WW1 Centennial News

• The Government's Expanding Power | @10:30

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #60 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

Today is February 23rd, 2018 and our guests for this week include:

• Dr. Edward Lengel, with a story about the 1st Division’s early encounter with gas warfare

All now -- on WW1 Centennial News -- a weekly podcast brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation.

I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

In October of 1917, Wilson signs the "Trading with The enemy" act into law giving him sweeping new powers to manage and control international trade.

We covered this in some detail during episode #42 and here are the highlights:

1. Enemy owned property can be seized

Interestingly - “enemy” is defined as someone we have declared war on OR a nation that the President simply proclaims as an enemy OR a company engaged in commerce with an enemy OR a company incorporated or operating in enemy territory OR a company that has ties to one of the many things above.

With free reign to seize and capture foreign properties - the administration sets up the Office of the Alien Property Custodian putting a guy named A. Mitchell Palmer in charge of “appropriating” enemy held properties.

This week 100 years ago - Using the “Trading with the Enemy” and the “espionage” acts as foundations - President Wilson goes the next mile and issues a series of proclamations including taking total control of all the foreign commerce of the United States.

With that that as a setup - it's time to jump into our centennial Time Machine and roll back 100 years to the war that changed the world.

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

It is mid February 1918. From the pages of the Official Bulletin - the government war gazette published by George Creel - the nation's propaganda chief comes the following:

[radio and telegraph sound effect]

Dateline: Friday February 15, 1918

The headline in the Official Bulletin Reads:

PRESIDENT ISSUES PROCLAMATIONS FOR CONTROL OF ENTIRE FOREIGN COMMERCE OF UNITED STATES

LICENSES REQUIRED FOR ALL IMPORTS AND EXPORTS

And the story reads:

The President has today issued two proclamations which will become effective to-morrow. After February 16, 1918, no commodities may be exported from this country or imported into this country except under license.

The administration states that:

“the military situation and the tonnage situation have made increasingly apparent the necessity of Instituting a complete and thorough control of all our exports and imports.

[theo] The entire second page of the article  - all three columns -- are dedicated to the detailing of the scores of types of goods now under import and export regulation as well as the dozens of countries now under commerce restrictions.

You can read the full text of the proclamations yourself, since we re-publish every issue of the official bulletin on the Commission’s web site at ww1cc.org/bulletin - go to the February 15th issue and read the story on page 1 and 2.

In the same issue the treasury department announces that they have begun a nation-wide hunt for Alien Property to be impounded or confiscated.

[SOUND EFFECT]

Headline:

Nationwide Hunt for Alien Property

Is Begun by U. S. Custodian Palmer

WARNING NOTICE GIVEN

Persons Evading Law Liable

to $10,000 Fine or Ten Years' Imprisonment

or Both.

[Theo] As an aside - $10,000 in 1918 is the equivalent of $180 grand today.

The story reads:

1. Mitchell Palmer, Alien Property Custodian, authorizes the following statement:

Federal agents have begun a search of the country from coast to coast to get in alien property still outstanding. Holders of property thus uncovered who have failed to report it, may be fined or imprisoned, or both.

The law will be impartially enforced against all individuals or corporations

who fail to report the possession of enemy property.

But the Wilson administration is not stopping there - They are also going for total control of the railroads -

Dateline Feb. 22. 1918

A headline in the NY times reads

The Senate Passes Railroad Bill

[Theo] And the story reads:

With Administration forces victorious · on every contested point, the bill for Government control of railroads passes the Senate tonight without a roll call.

Determined efforts to prescribe limitations beyond which the President or the Director General might not go in managing the railroads,  failed when Senators of both parties rallied strongly behind Senator Smith of South Carolina --- the Administration spokesman on this measure.

[Theo] The story goes on to read:

So generous was the Senate that the President is to be untrammeled by any existing law that he deems will handicap or hinder effective governmental control and management of the transportation systems.

[Theo] But there are those in the government that are getting worried about the Executive branch gathering so much dictatorial power - and where this may leave the nation after the hostilities cease.

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline: February 19, 1918

In a New York Times headline:

WATSON CRITICIZES POWERS GIVEN TO WILSON

Senator Watson opposes power extension for after the war ends

In the story senator Watson, a Republican is quoted:

I am willing to confer upon the President all the power necessary to Win this war: I have voted for several measures, the necessity of which I doubted, because he stated that the authority sought was essential to the successful prosecution of this conflict; but I am not yet convinced that, ln order to win this war, it is necessary to confer upon the President these tremendous powers for a period of peace after the conflict shall have ceased.

To that end let us firmly resolve that, with the proclamation of peace, the President shall surrender all the vast powers willingly conferred upon him by an aroused people, because of the exigent necessities of war: and that this nation shall return to the kind of republic founded by the revered fathers of this Union!

And so the Wilson Administration consolidates its unprecedented and overarching power across all sectors of American industry, food production, transportation, finance and trade 100 years ago this week in the war the changed the world. Follow our research links in the podcast notes.

Links:

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/educate/places/official-bulletin/3327-ww1-official-bulletin-volume-2-issue-240-febuary-21-1918.html

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/19/103191523.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/19/103191559.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/19/103191562.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/21/102672512.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/22/102673051.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/23/102673526.pdf

This week on: America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI… Dr. Edward lengel recounts the story of the First Division - the Big Red One in action, as they face off a deadly gas attack. Welcome Ed.

[ED LENGEL]

Ed - Next week you’ll be joining Katherine and I for our March preview roundtable - looking forward to speaking with you then!

[Thanks Theo]

Dr. Edward Lengel is an American military historian, author, and our segment host for America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI.

There are links in the podcast notes to Ed’s post and his website as an author.

Links:http://www.edwardlengel.com/big-red-one-action-ansauville-1918/

https://www.facebook.com/EdwardLengelAuthor/

http://www.edwardlengel.com/about/

This week for the War in the Sky we are going to look at some articles from the times and the Bulletin.

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline: Thursday February 21, 1918

A headline in the NY Times reads:

FOE COMES AND GOES AT WILL

Enemy Airplanes View Positions and Take Observations Freely Above The Reach of Guns

Only Fighting Air Machines Can Stop Their Calm Parade Over Enemy Lines

And the story reads:

Control of the air in the American Sector belongs to the enemy. Any officer at the front will make this declaration - and all have made it.

Every time the Germans come over, their path through the sky is followed by fleecy shrapnel puffs, but the the chances of hitting an airplane with anti-aircraft shells at those high altitudes is so remote that the enemy aviators calmly fly along, as if on a pleasure tour.

The article closes with the question:

"When are some American Planes Coming Here?"

The answer is published on the same day in the Official Bulletin this week:

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline: Thursday February 21 1918

Headline:

First American-Made Aerial Warships Now on Way to the French Battlefront,

A statement by the Secretary of War reads:

The first American-built battle planes are to-day en route to the front in France.

This first shipment, though in itself not large, marks the final overcoming of many difficulties met in building up this new and intricate industry.

These planes are equipped with the first American “Liberty motors” from machine production.

One of them in a recent test surpassed all records for speed and climbing for planes of that type. Engine production, which began a month ago, is now on a quantity basis and the peak of production will be reached in a few weeks.

[theo]

And so the first planes are shipping to France from the US with the aim of changing the dynamics of the war in the sky 100 years ago this week .

See the links in the podcast notes.

Link: www.ww1cc.org/warinthesky

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/educate/places/official-bulletin/3327-ww1-official-bulletin-volume-2-issue-240-febuary-21-1918.html

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/21/102672505.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/21/102672510.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/22/102673069.pdf

[SOUND EFFECT]

Now on to the Great War project with Mike Shuster - former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War project Blog…. This week Mike takes another look at the Tuscania sinking in the context of the great troop movements over the Atlantic. Our research for the podcast shows that this singular ship sinking was in news for weeks and somehow marks a psychological watershed for the US. Perhaps it was the realization that we were in a real life and death struggle. What are your headlines Mike?

[MIKE POST]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/02/18/a-gathering-flood-of-doughboys/

https://cdn.loc.gov/service/sgp/sgpbatches/batch_dlc_argonne_ver03/data/20001931/print/1918022201/0001.pdf

[SOUND EFFECT]

For videos about WWI we recommend the Great War Channel on Youtube. These veteran WWI story producers are offering several new videos this week including:

• Russian Pistols of WW1

To see their videos about WWI follow the link in the podcast notes or search for “the great war” on youtube.

Link:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

It is time to fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[SOUND EFFECT]

this section is not about history, but rather - it explores what is happening NOW to commemorate the centennial of the War that changed the world!

A century in the making - the story of America’s WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

In this segment we take you on an insider’s journey that explores this grand undertaking, and the people behind it.

It’s been an exciting week for the Memorial Team. Late last week, Maquette in hand - the maquette being the 10 foot long first draft miniature of the stunning sculpture for the memorial - the team set up for a meeting and review by the Washington Commission of Fine Arts - one of the governing bodies for what is -- and what is not built in the Nation’s Capital. Good progress was made with the CFA commissioners providing their insight and feedback to the team.

Then it was off to New York for the project’s first exposure on national networks television, as Commission Chairman Terry Hamby, Sculptor Sabin Howard and the Maquette joined host Steve Doocy for an interview recording on the set of Fox and Friends - The segment aired this past Tuesday Morning

[RUN EXCERPT CLIP FROM INTERVIEW]

The airing resulted in thousands of page views of the memorial webiste and most important hundreds of people making their first donations to the project.

Now the Maquette and team have set up a special showing the historic Willard Hotel in Washington DC - located directly across the street from Pershing Park - the future home of America’s WWI Memorial in Washington DC.

It’s been a big week for a wonderful project that has been A Century In The Making.

If you are not familiar with this great project, let me invite you for a direct look at ww1cc.org/memorial or follow the link in the podcast notes

Link: http://ww1cc.org/memorial

Today we are combining our Remembering Veterans AND our 100 Cities / 100 Memorials segments with an interview with Colonel Eugene Frederick Scott - US Army Retired --  born in the South - Raised in Chicago - and forged in the US Army with a 28 year military career included two tours of duty in Vietnam.

A man like this does not retire - and in his post military career he became the publisher of the Chicago Daily Defender Newspaper, and a very busy social activist.

Colonel Scott - along with his equally formidable wife - Beverly - who I suspect may be his secret weapon - showed up in my world during the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials project where they submitted a Chicago Monument to the 370th Infantry Regiment. Welcome Colonel Scott.

[Colonel: Let me start by talking local Chicago history - Can you give us an overview of the 370th and their role in WWI?]

[could you tell us a bit about the monument that is one of the awardees for the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials project]

[Colonel - what other WWI centennial projects are you working on or with?]

[Thank you for joining us today]

Colonel Eugene F. Scott US Army Retired and Former publisher of the Chicago Daily Defender Newspaper.

Link: get links

http://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/col-eugene-scott

https://www.pritzkermilitary.org/whats_on/video-rucksack/2016-liberty-gala-oral-history-video-remarks-colonel-ret-eugene-f-scott/

Poppy Packet Fundraising

Today in our Education section, we are joined not by an educator but by two very special entrepreneurial and dedicated young students. Taylor Gibbs and Lyvia Bartoli from St. John the Evangelist Middle School in Watertown, Connecticut.

They brought the Centennial Commission's Poppy Seed Fundraising Program to their school, to help raise awareness for our World War I veterans, and to help raise money for America’s World War I Memorial at Pershing Park in Washington, DC.

Welcome Lyvia and Taylor!

[greetings]

[How did you hear about the WW1 Poppy Program and what made it appealing to you to get involved with?]

[How did the fundraising go?]

[Did you find that the Poppy Packets increased interest in WW1 from the buyers?]

[What advice would you give to anyone else using the Poppy Packets to raise funds?]

[Have you been surprised at how much recognition you’re getting for this effort?]

[goodbyes]

Taylor Gibbs and Lyvia Bartoli are students at St. John the Evangelist Middle School, and are Poppy Seed Fundraising pros! Learn more about their efforts, and the Poppy Program, by visiting ww1cc.org/poppy or at the links in the podcast notes.

Links: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/4038-watertown-ct-students-support-memorial-with-poppy-seed-sales.html

http://www.ww1cc.org/poppy

To wrap up Education this week -- The latest WW1 education newsletter just came out!

Issue 11 is “Women in War!” and focuses on the diverse roles women

took on to support the war, both abroad and at home.

This issue includes resources for teaching about The Hello Girls, Female Yeoman, Women Warriors in Russia, Women’s Rights in Turkey -- and the legacy of the Women’s Suffrage movement.

The newsletter is published by the National WW1 Museum and Memorial in partnership with the WW1 Centennial Commission.  Go to our new education website at ww1cc.org/ e d u  where you can sign up for the education newsletters and connect with the commission education program - or  follow the link in the podcast notes.

Link: ww1cc.org/edu

This week for our updates from the States - we are actually going to look at something from 100 years ago.

In our research this week for our THEN history section - we found this very interesting map that was published in the February 21 issue of the Official Bulletin on page 8. The headline reads: COST PER MAN DRAFTED FOR SERVICE AS INDICATED, BY STATES

It’s worth a look with Delaware recruitment the most costly per soldier at $19 and Oklahoma the least at a dollar fifty-seven. The average draftee inducted cost the government $4.93 each.

Check out the article and the map to see what it cost in your state - see Page 8 of the February 21st issue of the Official Bulletin at ww1cc.org/bulletin or follow the link in the podcast notes.

link:http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/educate/places/official-bulletin/3327-ww1-official-bulletin-volume-2-issue-240-febuary-21-1918.html

[SOUND EFFECT]

And now for our feature “Speaking World War 1” - Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  ---

In 1914, the French army still used the same military uniform they had for decades, with vibrant red pantaloons and bright white gloves. The “see me - shoot me” uniforms were one of the factors that led to their route by the German army in the first few months of the war.

In response, the French launched a special unit in 1915, whose members, mostly artists, were known as camoufleurs. The french term “se, camoufler” means to hide oneself. This led to this week’s “speaking WWI “ word camouflage. Quite popular as a clothing style most often used as the slang - Camo

In the military sense, the word denotes “the disguising of military personnel, equipment, and installations by painting or covering them to make them blend in with their surroundings.”

With planes scouting every mile of active front for troop movements, ammunition stores and other valuable information -- hiding in plain sight became increasingly important. So armies looked to nature for ideas on how to hide tanks, hospitals, snipers, bridges and even ships from the enemy’s prying eyes.

Camouflage-- this week’s speaking ww1 word -- See the podcast notes to learn more!

link: http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1906083,00.html    https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/5-facts-about-camouflage-in-the-first-world-war

While we talking about words - in this week’s Stars and Stripes issue from their on-going feature “ A Doughboy’s Dictionary”--- Our favorite definition this week is: Socks

Socks are defined as: Foot coverings composed of substance represented to the Government or the Red Cross as being wool, and possessed of the same capacity for contracting holes as is a machine gun target at fifty yards.

Read this all of  this week’s stars and Stripes newspaper from 1918 -  by following the link in the podcast notes.

Link:https://cdn.loc.gov/service/sgp/sgpbatches/batch_dlc_argonne_ver03/data/20001931/print/1918022201/0003.pdf

[SOUND EFFECT]

Depth Charge

For WW1 War Tech -- we are going to talk about the Depth Charge.

U-boats were the scourge of the seas -- taking out almost five thousand ships over the course of the war.

German U-boats especially focused their attacks on British shipping, both military and commercial, the Royal Navy considered many possible strategies to defeat this threat, but none seemed viable until the summer of 1916, when naval engineer Herbert Taylor perfected the hydrostatic trigger, allowing for a weapon that could be detonated when it experienced certain levels of water pressure -- in other words -  at certain depths.The underwater pressure explosions were devastating to submarine hulls while not damaging surface ships.

Though only 2 U-Boats were sunk by depth charges in 1916, production was increased as the conflict went on, and by the end of the war, the Royal Navy had used depth charges to sink 20 submarines, limiting the ability of the German Navy to halt Allied shipping.

And that’s THIS Weeks, WWI War Tech.

Read more about depth charges during WW1 at the links in the podcast notes.

Links: http://online.wsj.com/ww1/depth-charges

http://mentalfloss.com/article/31882/12-technological-advancements-world-war-i

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_charge

https://www.ussslater.org/tour/weapons/dpthchrg/dpthchrg.html

African American Nurses in WW1

In articles and posts-- from our rapidly growing website at ww1cc.org -- this week, we are featuring an article about the African American women who served in the Army Nurse Corps during WW1.

Eighteen African American women served stateside -- and their story is not well known. Their courage in overcoming the discrimination and segregation barriers still resonates today.

The story of one of these Nurses, Frances Reed Elliott Davis of North Carolina, is particularly poignant. She was the orphaned, illegitimate daughter of a white woman and a half-Cherokee, half-black sharecropper.

She faced enormous challenges in her life, overcoming them to become the first officially registered African American Nurse in the Red Cross. Read more about her, and other African American nurses, at the link in the podcast notes.

Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/4047-world-war-i-nurse-frances-reed-elliott-davis.html

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/4046-honoring-african-american-women-who-served-in-the-army-nurse-corps-in-wwi.html

In our WWRITE blog, which explores WWI’s Influence on contemporary writing and scholarship, this week's post also helps us wrap up February’s theme as African American History month. The posts title comes from a poster that reads: This Colored Man Is No Slacker - “Slacker” was a WWI terms for those who avoided the draft.

In 1919, the slogan on this WWI-era poster inspired two young African American sisters from West Virginia to write and publish a book of poems whose intention was to “show the Negro’s loyalty to the stars and stripes in the war with Germany and to show the need of unity of all men in the fight for democracy."

Read the story about these young women’s literary work supporting the patriotism of African Americans in WW1-- at ww1cc.org/wwrite or by following the link in the podcast notes.

Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/articles-posts/4058-the-colored-man-is-no-slacker-wwi-poems-by-the-peters-sisters.html

And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what do you have for us this week?

Hi Theo!

Flu Flu Flu

This week’s most popular posts on Social Media were all about one thing: the flu. With this year’s flu season proving long and deadly, it’s no surprise that people are drawing parallels to the great flu of 1918.

Against the backdrop of this year’s flu season, WWI Centennial Commissioner Dr. Libby O’Connell discussed the deadly “Spanish Flu” pandemic at the Museum of American Armor in New York. Dr O'Connell observed that 20 to 50 million people died from “The Spanish Flu” Pandemic, far more than all those who perished during World War I. An estimated 43,000 American Doughboys died of the disease out of a total of 675,000 American who would succumb. A third of all Americans would become infected with the “Spanish Flu” which would ravage the world for an entire year. You can find links to some photographs and an article from Newsday of Dr. O’Connell’s talk in the podcast links.

I’ve also included a link to an article we shared from The Wichita Eagle, a newspaper out of Kansas, outlining the spread of the so-called Spanish Flu from it’s epicenter: that’s right, it seems that Kansas, not Spain, was the ground-zero for the deadly, world-changing flu of 1918. Read more about the flu’s origins in Kansas 100 years ago, and how they tried, in vain, to stop its spread, by visiting the link in the podcast notes.

That’s it this week for the buzz.

link:https://www.facebook.com/ww1centennial/posts/930053607169938

https://www.facebook.com/ww1centennial/photos/a.311069102401728.1073741832.185589304949709/930363853805580/?type=3&theater

http://www.kansas.com/news/local/article200880539.html

Thank you for listening to this week’s episode of WW1 Centennial News.

We also want to thank our guests...

• Dr. Edward Lengel, Military historian and author

Thanks also to our intern John Morreale for his great research assistance.

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; this podcast is a part of that…. Thank you!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library as well as the Starr foundation for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

on  iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, Podbean or the other places you get your podcast and even on your smart speaker.. Just say “Play W W One Centennial News Podcast.”

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[music]

Can you see me… I wearing my camouflage - Oh wait - this is audio only. Never mind!

So long!

• The Government's Expanding Power | @10:30

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #60 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

Today is February 23rd, 2018 and our guests for this week include:

• Dr. Edward Lengel, with a story about the 1st Division’s early encounter with gas warfare

All now -- on WW1 Centennial News -- a weekly podcast brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation.

I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

In October of 1917, Wilson signs the "Trading with The enemy" act into law giving him sweeping new powers to manage and control international trade.

We covered this in some detail during episode #42 and here are the highlights:

1. Enemy owned property can be seized

• Wilson vs William | @ 01:25

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #59 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

Today is February 16th, 2018 and our guests for this week include:

• Dr. Edward Lengel, with a story about the 32nd Red Arrow Division

All this and more -- on WW1 Centennial News -- a weekly podcast brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation.

I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

A few weeks ago, in Episode #56, we brought in Woodrow Wilson expert, John Milton Cooper Jr, an American historian, author, educator, and Former Senior Scholar at the Wilson Center. At the end of the interview I asked him what is the most important thing we should keep in mind about Wilson as we follow his actions:

[FOR LIVE AUDIENCE“Insert audio : clip” - “As we hear the ongoing story of WWI on this podcast, what else should be understand about Wilson to help us keep it all --- and him in context?” answer about Wilson being a Phd, and one of history’s great political scientists - with ideas about how national politics work.]

So 100 years ago this week - one of the big stories on the domestic front is Wilson’s address to a joint session of congress further laying out the path to a negotiated peace.  

With that as a setup, let’s jump into our centennial time machine and slide  back 100 years to mid February 1918

in the war that changed the world!

[MUSIC SOUND EFFECT TRANSITION]

From the pages of the “OFFICIAL BULLETIN”, the government’s daily war gazette, published by George Creel -- a great primary source for WWI -- which we re-publish EVERY DAY on the Commission’s web site at ww1cc.org/bulletin and that apparently a few hundred of you now read daily…

[RADIO TUNING SOUND EFFECT TO MORSE CODE SOUND EFFECT]

DATELINE: Monday February 11, 1918

Headline: President, in Address to Congress, Outlines the Basis

for General Peace, Asserts All Nations Now at War

Must Join in the Settlement of Every Issue Involved

The story opens with Wilson expanding on his 14 points by laying out 4 principles. He states:

The test of whether it is possible for governments to go any further in the comparison of views is simple and obvious. The principles to be applied are these:

FIRST, that each part of the final settlement must be based upon the essential justice of that particular case and upon such adjustments as are most likely to bring a peace that will be permanent;

SECOND, that peoples and Provinces are not to be bartered about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if they were mere chattels and pawns in a game, even the great game, now forever discredited, of the balance

of power;

but that

THIRD, every territorial settlement involved in this war must be made in the interest and for the benefit of the populations concerned, and not as a part of any mere adjustment or compromise of claims amongst rival States; and

FOURTH, that all well-defined national aspirations shall be accorded the utmost satisfaction that can be accorded them without introducing new or perpetuating old elements of discord and antagonism that would be likely in time to break the peace of Europe and consequently of the world.

-President Woodrow Wilson.

So what is going on here? Well, one interpretation is this:

For 3 ½ horrific years powerful imperial forces have been trying to enforce their will and their agenda on peoples and populations resulting in an economic and human slaughter accompanied by unprecedented carnage.

No one is laying out a foundation for resolution. Instead the mindset is in terms of conquest and annihilation.

Suddenly this guy - this leader - this political scientist - whose nation is not under direct threat of conquest or annihilation starts to lay out how all this might be resolved… what the path to resolution looks like… how a new world order might rise out of the ashes - not under one conqueror - but as a new community of nations.

This actually sounds pretty good to a lot of war weary participants - but to Kaiser Willam - not so much! As a contrasting story about Ukraine’s defeat at the hands of Germany illustrates:

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline: From Amsterdam, Monday February 11, 1918

Headline: Kaiser Declares that Germany will impose peace on All.

The story reads:

“Germany desires peace, but before it can be attained, her enemies must recognize that Germany has been victorious”

Kaiser William said in a dispatch - which continues with

“We ought to bring peace to the world. Such an end was achieved yesterday in a friendly manner with an enemy which, beaten by our armies, perceives no reason for fighting longer, extends a hand to us, and receives our hand. We clasp hands.

But he who will not accept peace, but on the contrary declines, must be forced to have peace.

We desire to live in friendship with neighboring peoples, but the victory of German Arms must first be recognized. Our troops under the great Hindenburg will continue to win it. Then peace will come.

This is a pretty poignant example of the contrasting positions and points-of-view

from two of the leaders

100 years ago this week in the war that changed the world!

We have a lot of links for you about this in the podcast notes.

Link:http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/educate/history/official-bulletin/3332-ww1-official-bulletin-volume-2-issue-231-febuary-11-1918.html

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/12/102668422.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/12/102668417.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/12/102668418.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/12/102668423.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/13/102668830.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/15/102669807.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/15/102669811.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/16/102670209.pdf

[SOUND EFFECT]

On a lighter note --  100 years ago, a new weekly publication found its way into the hands of Doughboys in France: The Stars and Stripes newspaper.

Although the classic periodical was originally produced by Union Soldiers in the Civil War, who found an abandoned printing press - they only ran 6 one-page issues at the time.

The publication was revived for World War 1, produced by an all-military staff and aimed directly at the doughboys of the American Expeditionary Force.

Stars and Stripes is filled with cartoons and articles by and for doughboys, making light of everything from living covered in lice in the trenches to struggling to communicate with their new French comrades.  Though all tactical information is redacted, the content’s humor, irreverence and fun is surely a pickup for the boys.  I have only seen a couples of issues but I have already become a fan. Besides - My mom worked for the Stars and Stripes in postwar Germany in the 50s.

You’ll get a taste a little later as we use an article from an early issue of the Stars and Stripes for our Speaking WWI section later in the podcast. Meanwhile, check the podcast notes to read some of the pages yourself. You WILL enjoy@!

Link:https://www.loc.gov/resource/20001931/1918-02-15/ed-1/?sp=1

https://www.stripes.com/

100 years ago this week in the War in The Sky - a projected POST war vision using war tech is announced.

An article in the Official Bulletin contemplates the future application of the airplane!

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline: Wednesday February 13, 1918

Headline: AERIAL MAIL ROUTE BETWEEN WASHINGTON, PHILADELPHIA AND NEW YORK IS PLANNED

BIDS FOR FIVE AIRPLANES ASKED

Machines to Make One Round Trip a Day

Will Be Permanent if Practicability is Assured.

And the story reads:

Postmaster General Burleson flias called for bids for the construction of five airplanes to be used in the establishment of an aerial route for the delivery of first class mail.

The bids are to be opened at 2 o'clock on February 21. The contract Will be awarded to the bidder whose airplanes have stood satisfactory service tests --- in the War and Navy Departments; the airplanes and parts to be delivered not later than April 25, 1918.

The call for bids requires that the airplanes shall be complete, capable of carrying 300 pounds of mail a distance of not less than 200 miles without stop.

The intention is, as soon as the authority of Congress is received, to establish an aerial route to Philadelphia and New York, carrying 300 pounds of first-class mail, for which a special postage rate will be charged, not exceeding 25 cents per ounce or fraction thereof, and to maintain a permanent service on regular scheduled time.

And that is a new civilian infra structure vision launched 100 years ago this week - Because of the war in the sky.

Read the announcement for yourself on page 2 of the Wednesday February 13 issue of the Official Bulletin by following the link in the podcast notes or go to ww1cc.org/bulletin

Link: www.ww1cc.org/warinthesky

http://www.historynet.com/airmail-service-it-began-with-army-air-service-pilots.htm

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/educate/history/official-bulletin/3321-ww1-official-bulletin-volume-2-issue-233-febuary-13-1918.html

This week on: America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI… Dr. Edward lengel introduces us to the 32nd Red Arrow Division, made from the Michigan and Wisconsin National Guard.

[What’s the story Ed?]

[ED LENGEL]

[What are you going to tell us about next week Ed?]

Dr. Edward Lengel is an American military historian, author, and our segment host for America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI.

There are links in the podcast notes to Ed’s post and his website as an author.

Links:http://www.edwardlengel.com/red-arrow-leviathan-michigan-wisconsin-doughboys-go-war-1918/

https://www.facebook.com/EdwardLengelAuthor/

http://www.edwardlengel.com/about/

[SOUND EFFECT]

Now on to the Great War project with Mike Shuster - former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War project Blog….

Mike: Even though our ground troops are still being organized in Europe - The US Navy has been operational in the war for nearly a year - including reinforcing the British blockade on Germany. What’s the effect in Germany Mike?

[MIKE POST]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/02/11/germany-suffering-economic-warfare/

[SOUND EFFECT]

You met the host Indy Neidell and producer Florian Wittig from the great war Channel on Youtube in last week’s podcast -

Here are the channels new episodes for this week:

Austro-Hungarian House of Cards

Motor Torpedo Boats in World War 1

Strikes and Mutiny

And more.

To see their videos about WWI follow the link in the podcast notes or search for “the great war” on youtube.

Link:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

It is time to fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[SOUND EFFECT]

this section is not about history, but rather - it explores what is happening NOW to commemorate the centennial of the War that changed the world!

Commission News

In commission news - between right now and next tuesday, February 20th at noon easter is the ONLY TIME EVER --- IN HISTORY ---- that you will be able to order one of the collectible commemorative WWI service medal sets. We have talked about them before….

These are special US Mint created WWI commemorative silver medal for each of the military services that fought in WWI. There is one each for

the Army,

the Marines,

the Army Air corps

the Navy and

the US Coast Guard…

They are really beautiful and actual collectibles because -- after this single mint run, that’s it. That is how many will exist in the world… So order yours today -

Most important, and why we are promoting them, every commemorative WWI medal set you buy, helps build the National WWI Memorial in Washington DC. Every sale adds $10 to the memorial effort. So grab a valuable piece of history and at the same time honor all those who served in WWI!

The order site is at the US mint but we made it single step easy for you. Type ww1cc.org/coin into your browser and you’ll be there. That’s the letters ww -the number 1 - the letters C C DOT O R G forward slash and the word coin. Or - of course- follow the link in the podcast notes!

In fact… Pause the podcast. Right now. Go put in an order! We’ll be here later - but these special WWI commemorative service medal won’t.

Link: https://catalog.usmint.gov/coins/commemoratives/?cm_sp=TPL-_-wwi-intro-button-_-020118

www.ww1cc.org/coin

371st Cemetery Restoration with Sonya Grantham

This week in our Remembering Veterans section we are being joined by Sonya Hodges Grantham, a mother, grandmother, genealogist, author, citizen historian, and researcher, with a motto of "Get The Job Done and Get It Done Right". She is the Founder and President of the World War I - 371st Historical Society and the Restorer of Childs Cemetery in South Carolina.

Welcome, [Sonya]

[greetings]

[Sonya, your interest in restoring this particular cemetery stems from your own family history-- can you tell us the story?]

[The 371st is one of the less known black regiments of WW1, yet the regiment’s Corporal Freddie Stowers is one of only two African-American Congressional Medal of Honor awardees from WWI  -- can you tell us about the regiment?]

[Unkempt or abandoned cemeteries are all over the Southern countryside -- given your experience so far, what advice can you offer someone who may, like you did,  take on the conservation of an  abandoned cemetery?]

[You’ve taken on the Childs cemetery solo -- how did that go?]

[goodbyes]

Sonya Hodges Grantham, is a genealogist, author, citizen historian, and researcher -- the Founder and President of the World War I - 371st Historical Society and the sole Restorer of Childs Cemetery in South Carolina. Follow the links in the podcast notes to learn more about her  and her work restoring the Childs Cemetery.

Link:https://www.free-times.com/news/local-and-state-news/marker-will-honor-black-wwi-soldiers-from-richland-based-regiment/article_1b8633c2-9f9e-11e7-a9ff-9b9b4d57fb3f.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share

http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article14349458.html

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bernicebennett/2015/05/29/the-371st-infantry-of-world-war-i-with-sonya-hodges-and-douglas-culbreth-1

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/10561261/First-World-War-love-letters-from-the-trenches.html

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/letters-to-loved-ones

[SOUND EFFECT]

And now for our feature “Speaking World War 1” - Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  ---

Adjusting to life in the Army, and in Europe, was a huge change for many of the young men serving in the AEF - the American Expeditionary Force.

As we mentioned at the top of the show, starting this week 100 years ago, The Stars and Stripes newspaper offered sincere, if tongue-in-cheek, advice and stories to our boys. The February 15th, 1918 edition includes a cheat sheet of terms and phrases for the new army: the Doughboy’s Dictionary.

Items defined in this dictionary include:

• Insurance Premium -- Something that puts about one-sixth of your pay where you will never be able to get at it.

The Doughboy’s Dictionary -- helping our boys with Speaking WWI 100 years ago - See the podcast notes to learn more!

link:

https://cdn.loc.gov/service/sgp/sgpbatches/batch_dlc_argonne_ver03/data/20001931/print/1918021501/0005.pdf

[SOUND EFFECT]

Brazil in WWI

For our International report this week -- We have something special for you ---

Calling in from Brazil today, we are joined by Matheus Lacerda [Maatheus LaSERda], a Passionate hobby historian with a masters degree in International Relations.

Matheus recently published a book, about Epitacio Pessoa [Pess-oh-uh]...  who was the head of the Brazilian delegation at the Versaille Peace Conference in 1919, and who was later elected president of Brazil.

Welcome Matheus!

[greetings]

[Matheus, I think many listeners will be surprised to hear about Brazil’s involvement in the war. Can you give us an overview of Brazil’s WWI story?]

[Your book is about Epitacio Pessoa at the Versaille Peace Conference of 1919-- who is he, and what what role did he take at the conference?]

[Pessoa visited the United States once he became president elect of Brazil in 1919-- what was significant about this visit?]

[Matheus - We keep calling WWI “The War That Changed the World” - Did it change Brazil? And how? ]

[Thank you so much for calling in from Brazil to join us!]

[goodbyes]

Matheus de [JE] Medeiros Lacerda,author of the “Diplomacy of President Epitacio Pessoa”. Learn more about the book and Brazil in WW1 by visiting the links at the podcast notes.

Link: http://www.editoraappris.com.br/diplomacia-presidencial-de-epitacio-pessoa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoTwUcLJwvY&vl=en

Synthetic Rubber

This week in WW1 War Tech -- we are going to talk about Synthetic Rubber!

The rise of motor vehicles was huge in WWI, the new transport helped get soldiers to the front, carried wounded to hospitals, and hauled supplies every which way. But the tires on these machines were made of rubber, something that came nearly exclusively from the British colonies of Ceylon and Malaya in South Asia.

AND rubber was one of many important materials that Germany found herself blockaded from by the British Navy -- Helped by the US Navy  of course, as Mike explained earlier---

Cut off from the world’s supply, the German tire industry supply of rubber was stretched thin, and the German Army faced a logistical problem.

The answer came from a german chemical company we now associate with aspirin - Bayer who came up with and started to mass produce methyl rubber, that was created from lime and coal.

24,000 tonnes of methyl rubber was produced during the War, but it was an inferior substitute for the real thing - didn’t work well in the cold and let to many tailbone bruises for the troops - It helped get Germany through the war but after the war - methyl rubber went the way of imperialism, and also was never considered seriously again.

Importantly, the work on these materials eventually led to more effective synthetic rubber substances, including those manufactured by American rubber companies in World War II when WE lost access to South Asia.

Read more about synthetic rubber during WW1 at the links in the podcast notes.

Links: https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/rubber

https://www.icis.com/resources/news/2008/05/12/9122056/history-of-the-synthetic-rubber-industry/#

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/g1577/7-surprising-scientific-advances-that-came-out-of-world-war-i/

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/syntheticrubber.html

Corporal Stowers

In articles and posts-- from our rapidly growing website at ww1cc.org - and tying neatly into the story told by our guest Sonya Grantham --- this week, there is an article about Corporal Freddie Stowers, an African-American war hero who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his service in WW1.

Corporal Stowers was born in 1896 in Anderson County, South Carolina. Despite the discrimination he faced there, he made the decision to serve in the segregated 371st Infantry Regiment. He was serving as the squad leader in Company C of that regiment, in the 93rd Infantry Division, during an attack on Hill 188, in the Champagne-Marne Sector of France. He was killed in action that day, but the story of his exceptional bravery and leadership lived on, earning him the Medal of Honor posthumously. Read the entire inspiring story of Corporal Freddie Stowers at the link in the podcast notes.

Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/4028-corporal-freddie-stowers.html

Pyjamas

Also in articles and posts this week, a story about how a new technological terror of the war inspired the world of fashion.

World War I introduced so many terrible new war machines and prominent  among those was, of course, the aircraft -- which could now reached beyond the battlefield and into the homeland - a genuine weapon of terror, bringing the war from the soldier to the citizen.

For Londoners, the threat began in January 1915, when the Germans sent Zeppelins loaded with bombs across the Channel. Eventually, they sent planes, too. In fact, the WWI air raids, often at night, accomplished very little tactically, but their true purpose was to upset peace, terrorize civilians and sink morale.

The threat of bombings in the middle of the night meant that Londoners had to be ready to evacuate their homes with little to no notice; and no proper british woman wanted to be caught out in the street during a raid in her nightgown!

So, new sleeping suits and pyjama with legs made their way into magazines, fashion and British bedrooms, ensuring a good night’s sleep and a practical, modest and stylish retreat in case of a nighttime raid.

Read more about how, just days after the first Zeppelin raid over England, British women were already dressing for bed to be prepared to “meet the midnight world at a minute’s notice” -- at the link in the podcast notes.

Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/4031-wwi-s-zeppelin-bombings-popularized-the-trend-of-pyjamas.html

Love Letter

This week, special thoughts of love for valentines -

Often when we talk about the war, we focus on the more gruesome details-- the death, the mud, the gas, the lice, the devastation -- but everyday life continued throughout the war, despite all its horrors.

Husbands missed their wives, and girls missed their sweethearts. 2nd Lieutenant Francis Tracy wrote to his wife, full of longing and love and apologies for how hard his absence had been on her --

Tracy wrote this letter to his wife on September 20th 1918, only seven days before he died in battle. He is buried in the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery. The track is an excerpt from the youtube Series: The Letters - and  performed by Farhang Ghajar. The link is in the podcast notes.

Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N39r3FDSSU

Love Story

On our website at ww1cc.org, you can find the story of Rebecca and Charles Duffy, submitted by their daughter Lucy. Rebecca, who was a young French girl when the war broke out, met and fell in love with an American Soldier who was taking French lessons with her mother. The infatuation was immediate, with Charles proposing to Rebecca after just three weeks! Read their incredible story  by following the link in the podcast notes.

Missing American Love Letters from WWI

You know - when we were preparing this story ---- It seems like American Love letters from WWI have not been well archived or collected

Hint hint to our listeners - there is a great project and opportunity for you!!!  American Love Letters from WWI needs someone’s attention--- - Meanwhile In the UK media and web you will find hearts beating fondly - we have put a list of links for you to explore below.

Link:  

https://transcribathon.com/en/runs/love-run/

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/2388-rebecca-and-charles-a-testimony-from-beyond-the-atlantic.html

https://news.sky.com/story/dear-heart-love-letters-from-the-trenches-released-10767255

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2859049/love-letters-first-world-war-soldiers-passchendaele-sweethearts-home/

Love Songs

And to wrap things up for Valentines - here are some audio clips from love songs of the times.

Songs:

Im crazy over every girl in france

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM_ZvSbqXn4

My sweetheart is somewhere in france

https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox.6356/

Other songs:

https://www.loc.gov/jukebox/recordings/detail/id/4847

https://www.loc.gov/jukebox/recordings/detail/id/5457

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt7GCL1iUKk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Billy_Murray_-_K-K-K-Katy.ogg

https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox.6356/

And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what do you have for us this week?

Hi Theo!

Naturalization Webinar

Our friends at the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services History Office are hosting an online webinar about the history of WWI soldier naturalizations on February 22nd. During World War I, nearly one-fifth of the American armed forces were foreign-born. In fact, Congress passed laws to expedite military naturalizations, encouraging immigrant enlistments and to naturalize servicemen before they shipped out.

The webinar will provide an overview of the Immigration Service’s WWI soldier naturalization program, and explore some of the unique research challenges the records present. Make sure to tune in at the link in the podcast notes, as the webinar won’t be recorded! You can also go back to our Episode #41 to hear our interview with Allison S. Finkelstein and Zack Wilske from the USCIS History Office and Library.

link:https://www.uscis.gov/HGWebinars

https://www.facebook.com/ww1centennial/posts/926359477539351

That’s it this week for the Buzz!

link:https://www.militarytimes.com/military-honor/black-military-history/2018/02/06/william-h-carney-the-first-black-soldier-to-earn-the-medal-of-honor/

Thank you everyone for listening to another episode of WW1 Centennial News.

We want to thank our guests...

• Dr. Edward Lengel, Military historian and author

Thanks also to our new intern John Morreale for his great research assistance.

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; this podcast is a part of that…. Thank you!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library as well as the Starr foundation for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

on  iTunes and google play at ww1 Centennial News, and on Amazon Echo or other Alexa enabled devices. Just say: Alexa: Play W W One Centennial News Podcast.

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[music]

Hey I saved one more entry from the Doughboy Dictionary for you

Officer of the Day

A lieutenant troubled with sleeplessness and possessed of bad habit of coming around between midnight and dawn and asking embarrassing questions.

So long!

• Food Will Win The War - an overview | @01:55

and more....----more----

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #58 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

Today is February 9th, 2018 and our guests for this week include:

• Dr. Libby O’Connell, talking to us about the food administration’s rationing directives 100 years ago this month

All that and more --- this week -- on WW1 Centennial News -- a weekly podcast brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation.

I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

Food will win the war!

That was the rallying cry for Herbert Hoover…

A mining engineer by training, an entrepreneur by character and a public servant by circumstance.

Herbert Hoover was in Europe in 1914 when it all hit the fan. He stepped up and helped organize the return of around 120,000 Americans who got stranded. He led 500 volunteers in distributing food, clothing, steamship tickets and cash to get the Americans home.

Hoover, who would become the 31st President of the United States remarked: QUOTE: I did not realize it at the moment, but on August 3, 1914, my career was over forever. I was on the slippery road of public life."  

And so It is no surprize that President Woodrow Wilson tapped the young Hoover to run his wartime food administration…

And what a challenge food production and management had become. The men who farmed put on uniforms. Armies of them needed to be fed, shiploads of food needed to be transported and in europe after 3 ½ years of devastation and fighting the populations were starving.

[MUSIC]

With that as an overview, let’s jump into our wayback machine and go back 100 years to the war that changed the world!

[MUSIC SOUND EFFECT TRANSITION]

It’s late January 1918 - President Wilson issues a proclamation in the "Official Bulletin" - the government’s war gazette published by George Creel’s Committee on Public Information for the administration.

[Sound effect]

DATELINE: January 28, 1918

HEADLINE:

President’s Proclamation Calls Upon People of Nation to Reduce Consumption of Wheat and Meat Products in Order to Feed America's Associates in the War

Wilson’s proclamation opens with:

"MANY causes have contributed to create the necessity for a more intensive effort on the part of our people to save food in order that we may supply our associates in the war with the sustenance vitally necessary to them in these days of privation and stress. The reduced productivity of Europe because of the large diversion of manpower to the war, the partial failure of harvests, and the elimination of the more distant markets for foodstuffs through the destruction of shipping places…  the burden of their subsistence very largely rests upon our shoulders.

The Food Administration has formulated suggestions which, if followed, will enable us to meet this great responsibility, without any real inconvenience on our part."

The proclamation goes on to explain the details and concludes with -

"I, therefore, in the national interest, take the liberty of calling upon every loyal American to take fully to heart the suggestions which are being circulated by the Food Administration and of begging that they be followed. I am confident that the great body of our women' who have labored so loyally in cooperation with the Food

Administration for the success of food conservation, will strengthen their efforts and will take it as a part of their burden in this period of national service to see that the above suggestions are observed throughout the land."

President Woodrow Wilson

With us again today is Food historian, author and WWI Centennial Commissioner,  Dr. Libby O’Connell

[Libby - thank you for taking the time to join us again --- as our go to expert on WWI and food!]

[So Libby - The cry was “Food Will Win The War” and this particular program came to be known as Meatless Monday / Wheatless Wednesday - Can you give us some perspective? Was it effective?]

[Libby]

[Thank you once again for your wonderful insights - ]

[So long]

Dr. Libby O’Connell is former Chief Historian for the History Channel, author, food historian and US WW1 Centennial Commissioner - Follow the link in the podcast notes to learn more about Dr. O’Connell and how “Food Will Win The War!"

Link: http://uvamagazine.org/articles/the_peoples_historian

http://exhibits.mannlib.cornell.edu/meatlesswheatless/meatless-wheatless.php

https://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/author/libby

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/08/102666398.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/07/102665809.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/02/04/102664455.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/01/28/102662003.pdf

100 years ago this week in the War in The Sky there are two events worth noting.

First: The Lafayette Escadrille - the famed squadron of American Flier who flew for the french before America entered the war are officially transferred from the French Army to the US Army and re-designated the 103rd Aero Squadron.

Also the US replaces the insignia on all US planes with what is called the roundel  - an outer red ring, then a blue ring, and a white center.

The Allies had requested the change out of a fear that the white star in the center of the old design might be mistaken for a German cross in the fog of battle. The roundel remains in use until the US reverts to its former markings in August of 1919.  

Fine tuning the army air service 100 years ago this week for the War in the Sky.

Follow the war in the sky with our comprehensive nearly day-by-day timeline curated by RG head - you’ll find it at at ww1cc.org/warinthesky - one word - all lower case - or follow the links in the podcast notes.

Link: www.ww1cc.org/warinthesky

This week for: America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI… Dr. Edward lengel is going to tell us about a very interesting military demonstration by US forces at New York’s Hippodrome.

Let me set this up: Large numbers of troops are wrapping up their stateside training and preparing to ship out. The pace is accelerating and multiple divisions are shipping out simultaneously - most of them from the greater New York City area - logistics for  juggling railways, encampments, embarkation and debarkation facilities, ships, food, fuel and weapons is ever more challenging. But the Doughboys are pumped and gripped with excitement as they prepare to “take it to the Kaiser”. Their adventure is about to begin. This is where Ed picks up the story in New York...

[ED LENGEL]

Thank you Ed. Next week, Dr. Edward Lengel will tell us about the 32nd Red Arrow Division, made from the Michigan and Wisconsin National Guard.

Some of the division’s first contingent drowns in the sinking of the Tuscania on February 5, but most of the Red Arrow Doughboys travel on the massive ship - the USS Leviathan, which used to be the German Ship ---

Dr. Edward Lengel is an American military historian, author, and our segment host for America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI.

There are links in the podcast notes to Ed’s post and his website as an author.

Links:http://www.edwardlengel.com/doughboys-action-new-york-citys-hippodrome-100-years-ago/

https://www.facebook.com/EdwardLengelAuthor/

http://www.edwardlengel.com/about/

[SOUND EFFECT]

Now on to the Great War project with Mike Shuster - former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War project Blog….

Mike: Your post this week is titled - The Americans are in it! And by that you mean the trenches and the fighting. I don’t think your story this week needs more introduction than that, Mike!

[MIKE POST]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/02/04/the-americans-are-in-it/

[SOUND EFFECT]

Every week we tell you about these wonderful videos on Youtube from The Great War Channel -- The channel has some pretty impressive stats - it launched in May of 2014, has published over 515 episodes, has over 800 thousand subscribers on youtube and has earned over 120 million video views.

Earlier this week I called Indy Neidell, the show’s host and Florian Wittig the series producer at their studio in Berlin to learn a little more about their experience in producing the Great War Channel.

Indy - Flo welcome!

Gentlemen - I wanted to bring you on the show - not to talk about WWI but to talk about ----  telling the story of WWI!

[Indy - this project came together in the spring of 2014 - can you tell us with who and how that happened?

[Flo - how did you get involved in the project?]

[So gentlemen - for us this is podcast episode #58 - and you are somewhere near episode 520! That leaves me in awe - but also with a question for you Indy:

WWI is such an incredibly... insanely…  bizarrely… surreal…  story - How do you think that immersing yourself in it so deeply and for so long -- has affected your worldview?]

[Flo - you and I have been chatting every month for a few years now - and I have really enjoyed watching you guide the project to where it is today - One thing that struck me is how incredibly dedicated to your audience you are  - Tell us about them]

Last question - really to both of you --- Starting this month the US troops start to actually engage in the fighting and their involvement accelerates rapidly - Do you have any special plans for how to cover this part of the story?

Thanks gents....

[Say goodbye]

Indy Neidell, the host, and Florian Wittig, the producer of the Great War Channel on Youtube.

Link:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

It is time to fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[SOUND EFFECT]

this section is not about history, but rather - it explores what is happening NOW to commemorate the centennial of the War that changed the world!

Interview with Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun

It is a privilege to joined today by a genuine social pioneer… An amazing person of many honors, distinctions and firsts - To start with Carol Moseley Braun was one of the first black women to graduate from the law school at the University of Chicago; She was an Assistant United States Attorney; an illinois state legislator; a US State Senator; an ambassador; and my favorite - she was adopted as a member of a maori tribe; She’s also an entrepreneur - and on the Diplomatic Advisory board to the US WWI centennial commission,

Welcome Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun.

[greetings]

[Ambassador Braun, I want to ask you about your Grandfather - Thomas Davie and his cousin both of whom served in WWI. Could you tell us about them? ]

[Did Thomas Davie talk about his experience when he came home?]

[Ambassador Braun - why do you think America needs a WWI memorial in the nation’s capital?]

[I have to ask - Who inspired you to become the accomplished and amazing person you are?]

[Ambassador - Thank you for sharing your family’s story with us.]

[thank you/goodbyes]

Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun is a pioneering politician, former US Senator from Illinois, she was the Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa-- and she also serves on the Diplomatic Advisory Board of the WW1 Centennial Commission. Read more about her at the links in the podcast notes.

link:http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/about/the-commission/advisory-boards/diplomatic-advisory-board.html

http://history.house.gov/People/Detail?id=18611

https://www.militarytimes.com/military-honor/black-military-history/2017/02/15/african-american-heroes-are-a-part-of-a-vanishing-world-war-i-legacy/

Interview with Dr. Richard Slotkin

We will start this week in our Remembering Veterans section with Dr. Richard Slotkin, historian, professor emeritus of English and American studies at Wesleyan University and author of the book Lost Battalions: The Great War and the Crisis of American Nationality

Welcome, [Dr. Slotkin]

[greetings]

[Dr. Slotkin, your book looks at the changing American cultural identity as experienced by two different units-- the 369th, a black regiment, and the 77th, the “melting pot” division. Why did you choose these two units for your book?]

[How did the experience of these two units differ, in terms of being marginalized ethnically? ]

[In your opinion, why should American students be taught about the exploits of these soldiers? ]

[goodbyes]

Dr. Richard Slotkin is a historian, professor emeritus and author. Follow the links in the podcast notes to learn more about him and his books.

Link:https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Battalions-Crisis-American-Nationality/dp/0805081380

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/richard-slotkin/lost-battalions/

Now for: A century in the making - the story of America’s WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

In this segment we take you on an insider’s journey that explores this grand undertaking, and the people behind it.

In the summer of 2017, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and National Capital Planning Commission unanimously approved the conceptual design for the memorial, centered on a monumental work of bronze sculpture.

Sculptor Sabin Howard then embarked on an eight-month effort to bring the memorial to life. And as we’ve heard from Sabin himself in our podcast episodes #54 and #55 --- the sculpture has evolved from his original sketches and drawings into 3D images and 3D models.

Sabin’s efforts at the Weta Workshop in New Zealand culminated in late January, with creation of a sculptural maquette of the proposed design - essentially that is the sculpture at 1:6 scale.

Last week you heard an audio documentary on this show as this striking model, which is around 10 and a half feet long by around 1 foot high, arrived in Washington DC last week.

The maquette serves as the “first draft” of the Memorial’s sculptural design and development and is scheduled to be presented to the Commission of Fine Arts on Thursday February 15th for their review and feedback.

On Friday February 16th, the maquette will be unveiled to the public for the first time on the Fox and Friends television show.

Pending all regulatory agency approvals anticipated by summer 2018, the design and development of the sculpture will enter its final production phase, including casting.

We actually built two of the maquettes to accommodate both public and private displays over the coming months!  

Watch the unveiling on Fox and Friends next Fr iday or come to our website that weekend at ww1cc.org/memorial for a first look yourself.

Follow the link in the podcast notes to learn more.

Link: www.ww1cc.org/memorial

[SOUND EFFECT]

And now for our feature “Speaking World War 1” - Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  ---

As we talked about at the top of the show, rationing and ingredient substitution became necessary in World War One America.

Special recipes were developed to keep food tasty but also within the rules laid out in the Food Administration’s guidelines.

These new wheatless, meatless and sugarless recipes that strove to keep familiar food on tables of America,  earned their own nickname - which is our Speaking WWI phrase for this week.

These wartime foods and recipes were deemed to have been “Hooverized” in honor of the Food Administration's chief, Herbert Hoover.

There was cake made with potato flour instead of wheat - candies made with molasses or honey instead of refined sugar, and bread using a mixture of potato, rye and corn flour. Actually Hooverized Foods sound like a very contemporary, trendy, gluten free, health food, paleo, vegan-esque diet.

But I think  “Hooverized Recipes” doesn’t sound like a trendy, hip, slick, hook --- even if it IS this week’s phrase for Speaking WWI - See the podcast notes to learn more!

link: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t9t156s17

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-meatless-wheatless-meals-of-world-war-i-america

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Ohio Website Launch

For updates from the states -- we’re very pleased to announce that Ohio has launched a new centennial website at ww1cc.org/ohio - all lower case!

With us is Amy Rohmiller, World War I Coordinator at the Ohio History Connection, to tell us more about the site and the WWI Centennial commemoration efforts in Ohio.

Welcome, Amy!

[greetings]

Amy, tell us about the Ohio WWI centennial organization -  how is it structured, and what kind of projects are you working on currently?

What was the experience of Ohioans like during the War?

What kind of information should people expect to find on your new Ohio website at ww1cc.org/ohio ?

[goodbye/thanks]

Amy Rohmiller is the World War I Coordinator at the Ohio History Connection. Visit the Ohio WWI Centennial website at ww1cc.org/ohio or by following the link in the podcast notes.

Link: www.ww1cc.org/ohio

[SOUND EFFECT]

And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what do you have for us this week?

Hi Theo!

Coloring Book

Popular posts on our facebook page this week are all about color! The National World War One Museum and Memorial in Kansas City has started a new project, Color Our Collections. You can follow the link in the podcast notes to download a coloring book drawn from the museum’s collections, including several of Captain Bruce Bairnsfather’s illustrations.

link:http://library.nyam.org/colorourcollections/national-wwi-museum-memorial-coloring-book/?platform=hootsuite

http://library.nyam.org/colorourcollections/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/02/NationalWWIMuseum_ColorOurCollections_2018.pdf

Color Images from the War

Lastly for the week, another collection of color photographs from WW1 is making the rounds online, but these are not black and white images that have since had color added: they’re original color images from 100 years ago. The color process used to create them is called Autochrome, and it used dyed pieces of potato starch to turn a normal black and white negative into the beautiful, velvety color photos you can see at the Slate article in the podcast links.

That’s it this week for the Buzz!

link:http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2014/08/12/fernand_cuville_s_autochrome_photos_show_world_war_i_in_color.html

Thank you Katherine -

Thank you everyone for listening to another episode of WW1 Centennial News.

We want to thank our guests...

• Dr. Libby O’Connell, author, historian and World War One Centennial Commissioner

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; this podcast is a part of that…. Thank you!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library as well as the Starr foundation for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

on  iTunes and google play at ww1 Centennial News, and on Amazon Echo or other Alexa enabled devices. Just say: Alexa: Play W W One Centennial News Podcast.

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[music]

Jeez I need to decide….

The Low FODMAP gluten free diet

The gut health diet

The matcha turmeric, macca diet

The Mediterranean makeover

Vegan 2.0

Forget it - I’m just gonna Hooverize my recipes!

So long!

• Feb. ‘18 overview - Ed Lengel, Katherine Akey, Theo Mayer | @01:40

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #57 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

Today is February 2nd, 2018 and our guests for this week include:

• Dr. Edward Lengel, in our February 1918 overview

All that and more --- this week -- on WW1 Centennial News -- which is brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation.

I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

Overview Chat with Ed, Katherine and Theo

THEO

Before we jump into our wayback machine and look at 100 years ago this week, we are going to try something new.

You know we have editorial meetings twice a week where we define the content for each week’s show. For the history section - which is one of the most popular parts of the podcast - we get into these great conversations about “what was really going on 100 years ago this week”. We look at the politics, the Official bulletin, the NY times, history book references and of course we have our own little band of experts and researchers -

It occurs to us that having a short version of one of these conversations -- in front of YOU at the top of each month…  might be a great way to provide context and overview. In other words  - from an overview perspective and of course with 20/20 hindsight - what is the next month all about in the War the changed the world? - and what are the themes we are going to hear about this coming month…

So the other day, Dr. Ed Lengel, Katherine Akey and I sat down (virtually of course - Ed was in Dublin, Katherine in DC and I am in LA) --- and we talked about February 1918 - Here is how it went….

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

Ed… it seems like the big theme in February is all about troop movements and preparation - The Americans to Europe and prepping for engaging the enemy - the Germans from the eastern front - leaving Russia for the western front and prepping for a knock-out spring offensive… so what are some of the specifics?

ED

[ED Lay out the basic outlines and punctuate with the “topic headers” of some specifics -

-America sending ever larger numbers of troops over - New rounds of training as arriving divisions get embedded with British and French troops

-Loss of the tuscania

-German armistice and peace with Russia withdraw from the Eastern front, leave Russia and red/white armies to their internal divisions - While Germans can concentrate forces to counter American support

-Germans want to “school” fresh US troops, and want US Media to report on it; Germans being very strategic with their aggression

[KATHERINE]

-month dramatic climax with the German COUNTER Gas attack on 1st division Ansauville near Metz/Nancy Feb 26/27th

THEO TRANSITION

Katherine you came up with some great references and article that illustrate Ed’s points - can you give us some of the datelines, headlines and gist of some of these? NOTE: Katherine - based on the articles you are picking - If I know what they are - we might break up ed section with references rather than having them all at the end.

-French and British (publically) very optimistic about outlook, skeptical of the strength of German attack on west

Links:https://history.army.mil/documents/wwi/ansau/ansac.htm

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/01/23/102660120.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/01/23/102660119.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/01/30/102662967.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/EdwardLengelAuthor/

http://www.edwardlengel.com/about/

For our War In The Sky segment, we are joined today by RG Head, retired Air Force Brigadier General, former fighter pilot, military historian, and author

Welcome RG

[greet one another]

[RG - thank for joining us again. I wanted to bring you on to help us with an overview of the War in The Sky for 1918. Of course it has to be in context of the other key events of the year, but what should we expect for 1918 in the the War in the Sky?]

RG

MAJOR AIR EVENTS OF WORLD WAR I IN 1918

1918 opened gloomily for the Allies. The aerial war in 1917 had introduced massed fighter tactics, close air support of ground forces and some strategic bombing. For the Allies, their many concentrated 1917 offensives failed and resulted in high losses on the ground and in the air. The Allies were on the defensive.

1. On the other hand, Germany instituted "The Amerika Plan," which featured five major offensives in an attempt to win the war before the Americans can make a meaningful contribution. Part of this plan was for the German Air Force to double its size in eight months in the hope of winning back air superiority, which it lost in the months after "Bloody April" 1917.

[thanks/goodbyes]

Thank you RG

RG Head, Retired Air Force brigadier general, fighter pilot, military historian and author. His latest book is a biography of Oswald Boelcke, often referred to as the father of combat aviation. RG Head is also the curator a comprehensive - nearly day-by-day “War in the Sky” timeline on the Commission website at ww1cc.org/warinthesky - all lower case - one word. We have links to the book, timeline and RG’s facebook page in the podcast notes

Link: https://www.facebook.com/rg.head/

www.ww1cc.org/warinthesky

https://www.amazon.com/RG-Head/e/B01M59UA64

[SOUND EFFECT]

Now on to the Great War project with Mike Shuster - former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War project Blog….

Mike: So the Russians stopped fighting the German - but the Russians now  sure seem to be fighting each other! Or the Germans are still fighting them - or something - What’s the story Mike?

[MIKE POST]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/01/28/lenin-declares-establishment-of-soviet-union/

[SOUND EFFECT]

The Great War Channel

Here are this week’s new videos our friends at  “The Great War Channel” on Youtube.

One is about Russia’s internal wars - Civil War in Finland and Ukraine

And - Trenches at 10,000 feet - Fighting on Mount Lagazuoi

And Finally  British Special Forces

Follow the link in the podcast notes or search for “the great war” on youtube.

Link:

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

It is time to fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[SOUND EFFECT]

this section is not about history, but rather - it explores what is happening NOW to commemorate the centennial of the War that changed the world!

Remembering Veterans DONE

February is African American History month - so over the next few weeks we will be bringing you a series of guests and stories that highlight the African American experience in WWI. It is an important, complex and sometimes horrific story of brave patriots fighting not only a war, but also a very racist culture.

Interview with Dr. Sammons

We will start this week in our Remembering Veterans section with Dr. Jeffrey Sammons, historian, professor of history at NYU, member of the commission’s history advisory board and co-author of the book Harlem's Rattlers and the Great War: The Undaunted 369th Regiment and the African American Quest for Equality.

Welcome, [Dr. Sammons]

[greetings]

[Dr.  Sammons - The Harlem rattlers - also known widely as the Harlem Hellfighters are famous as a unit and a regimental band, but who they actually were and what they did is much less known  - Can you give us an overview?]

[Dr. Sammons - as we noted at the top of the show - Pershing insisted, for the most part, on troop deployment under American command - but the 369th was under French command operationally until July 1918. Tell us about that please…]

[So when they fighting stopped “over there”, there was another big struggle as these men came home. What kind of situation did the African American soldiers and heroes of WW1 come home to?]

[goodbyes]

Dr. Jeffrey Sammons is a historian, professor, author and Historical Advisor to the WW1 Centennial Commission.

Link:https://www.pritzkermilitary.org/whats_on/pritzker-military-presents/jeffrey-sammons-harlems-rattlers-and-great-war/

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/about/the-commission/advisory-boards/historical-advisory-board.html

Now for: A century in the making - the story of America’s WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

In this segment we take you on an insider’s journey that explores this grand undertaking, and the people behind it.

This week the Maquette arrived in Washington DC. Sabin Howard, the project’s sculptor, has spent month in New Zealand working with the WETA Workshop to create this first 9 foot long realization of the planned ginormous bronze… late last week he packed it up and shipped it to Washington!

(sound from sabin footage)

This past Wednesday on January 31st, it arrived on the commission’s doorstep!

(more sound)

And the team got a first look!!! Including

US WWI Centennial Commission Chair Terry Hamby...

(first reactions)

around the middle of the month - The machete will be presented to and reviewed by Washington’s Commission of Fine Arts - - they one of the governing and approval bodies for any project in Washington DC…

After their review, the Maquette will be introduced to the nation on a national television show to be announced shortly.

Though we can’t show it to you yet, this is a podcast so we have been able to give you a sneak listen to the maquette arriving in Washington DC!

We are going to continue to bring you an insider’s view with stories about the epic undertaking to create America’s WWI memorial in our nation’s capital. Learn more at ww1cc.org/memorial

Link: www.ww1cc.org/memorial

[SOUND EFFECT]

And now for our feature “Speaking World War 1” - Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  ---

We have told you part of this story before -

On the morning of July 4th in 1917, the mounted band of the French Republican Guard arrived with a large crowd before the residence in Paris of the recently arrived Gen. John J. Pershing. He came to the window when he heard the “Star Spangled Banner,” and the crowd respectfully removed their hats for the American general. That morning - Gen Pershing and the men of the 16th infantry marched down the streets of Paris, celebrating the renewed Franco-American allegiance.

Well - turns out that a French newspaper L’Intransigent reported that, A cry was heard to-day by Parisians who acclaimed Gen. Pershing and his men. It was "Atta boy! atta boy!

The phrase is a simple popular contraction for 'That's the boy!' which means 'Here is the man for the situation!" and on our fighting front it soon became a war cry for the American troops. 'Atta boy !'

So Soon the phrase became synonymous with the American Troops. In fact, in 1918, according to the Baltimore Evening Sun , the British took a real liking to the phrase after overhearing it being shouted by American soldiers during a baseball game.

The paper reported that - “All the London papers have taken it up, with the result that in London, at least, the Americans are now almost unanimously called "Attaboys." But ultimately - Doughboys won out!

Attaboy - this week’s phrase for speaking WWI -

See the podcast notes to learn more!

link: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t9t156s17

[SOUND EFFECT]

For our Spotlight in the Media this week- We have a story about an episode from a French documentary television program called “13h15”. The episode is about an American Immigrant nurse named Josephine Heffernan, who served in France during WW1.

We’re pleased to be joined by Dr. Marjorie DesRosier, who did much of the research on nurse Josephine.

Dr. DesRosier is an international nurse historian and independent scholar specializing in the early history of American Red Cross nursing and nursing challenges of the Great War era in the U.S. and Europe. She, herself is also a Registered Nurse and former clinical professor from the University of Washington School of Nursing, in Seattle.

Welcome, Dr. DesRosier

[greetings]

[DesRosier, can you start by telling us a bit about Josephine? Who was she, and how did she end up in France as a nurse?]

[Would you tell us the story about the bracelet?]

[Are there other stories like Josephine’s-- where you have been able to connect with descendents of the nurses who served in the war?]

[Are you working on any other project about WWI nurses?]

[Thank you so much for being here!]

[goodbyes]

Dr. DesRosier is an international nurse historian, independent scholar and registered nurse  - Follow the link in the podcast notes to learn more about nurse Josephine Heffernan.

Link:https://www.francetvinfo.fr/replay-magazine/france-2/13h15/13h15-du-dimanche-7-janvier-2018_2539393.html

https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/1101/916742-bracelet/

[SOUND EFFECT]

Moving on to our 100 Cities / 100 Memorials segment

about the $200,000 matching grant challenge

to rescue and focus on our local WWI memorials.

This week we are profiling The Survivor' WWI War Monument in Beaverton, Michigan  -- a 100 Cities/100 Memorials round 1 awardee.

With us tell us about the project are Ed Rachwitz, member of the Gladwin County American Legion Post 171, and  Scott Govitz, former Beaverton Mayor and current Chair of the Beaverton Downtown Development Authority. Both serve on the Beaverton WW1 Memorial Committee.

Welcome gentlemen

[The WWI memorial in Beaverton is really striking - as you might guess, I have seen literally hundreds of WWI memorials - and this one is truly unique… it is a really beautiful stone bas-relief sculpture - and it shows both a proud doughboy and the war’s devastation - Since this is an audio program - Can you describe it for our listening audience.]

[The artist was a prewar german immigrant named Helmut von Zengen - tells us a bit about him please!]

[So apparently some years ago, in a well intentioned but misguided attempt to repair the memorial,  the repair actually caused some damage. That’s an important story to share. Can you tell us about that?]

[What are your rededication plans?]

Thank you for coming in today.. If you are anywhere near or traveling near Beaverton - take a stop at this memorial. It is unique, it is dramatic and it is worth seeing.

[goodbyes]

Ed Rachwitz and Scott Govitz serve on the Beaverton. michigan WW1 Memorial Committee. Learn more about the 100 Cities/100 Memorials program by visiting the link at the podcast notes.

Link: www.ww1cc.org/100cities

This week for, WW1 War Tech we are looking at gas masks

As we mentioned at the top of the show, gas was one of the most horrific parts of the WW1 arsenal. It was terrifying-- both physically, and psychologically devastating.

Developing a means of protecting soldiers from gas’s devastation was critical.

In 1915, the allied forces were caught off guard by the first chlorine gas attack at the Battle of Ypres; many suffocated -- and the Soldiers found a quick battlefield remedy: holding a urine soaked cloth to their face to counteract the chlorine.

John Scott Haldane, a scottish medical researcher, immediately undertook the task of developing a gas mask for the allies. Haldane had worked on similar problems before for the mining industry -- in fact - you know his work already - he was the man who came up with the idea of using canaries and other small animals in coal mines to detect odorless, deadly gases.

His first invention, called the Black Veil respirator, was simply pads of cotton wrapped in gauze and soaked in a chemical solution. This was a start, but with the increasing density and frequency of gas attacks the technology needed to adapt.

And so the box respirator was developed.

This turned into an arms race over the course of the war. New and different gases were constantly developed and each demanded new and different kind of protective masks.

We’ll explore this subject further in the coming months, but right now - you can learn more about Haldane and his development of the first gas mask by following the link in the podcast notes.

Link: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/man-who-invented-first-gas-mask-180963073/

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/REL31825.002

The Process Behind Dazzle Ships

For articles and posts-- from our rapidly growing website at ww1cc.org - in the news section this week, there is an article about the painstaking process of transforming ordinary ships into those decked out with dazzle camouflage.

The idea behind dazzle camo, was for ships to be seen, but seen incorrectly. If paint could be used to distort a ship’s angles, the thinking went, that would make it difficult for the ship to be targeted efficiently.

Targeting systems at the time were, of course, the human eye and brain, which easily fall prey to being fooled.

But how do you test a given scheme for a given ship?

The answer: tiny models. Read more about how the U.S. Navy created a vast library of dazzle-painted miniature ships to protect their real counterparts from torpedoes-- by following the link in the podcast notes.

BTW - We just heard that there is a Dazzle cammo painted ship scheduled to visit New York Harbor this summer. We’ll let you know more as those plans firm up!

Meanwhile we invite you to follow the link in the podcast notes to read the article.

Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/3987-the-painstaking-process-behind-those-wild-wwi-dazzle-naval-paint-jobs.html

www.ww1cc.org/news

S.S. Tuscania

Also another new article posted in the news section of the site this week -- volunteer Caitlin Hamon wrote up the story of the S.S. Tuscania, which encountered some serious trouble 100 years ago this week.

On February 5, 1918-- the sun was setting as the Tuscania and her accompanying  British convoy made their way toward the cliffs of Scotland. Shortly before 6 p.m. a huge shock sent a tremor through the entire ship; all the lights went out at once, followed by the explosive sound of shattering glass.

There was no question as to what had occurred: the Tuscania had been hit by a torpedo-- and over 2,000 American troops were on board.

Read the entire story of the dramatic rescues that followed-- and how the local Scottish communities remember the event and those who were lost-- just   following the link in the podcast notes.

link:http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/3988-ss-tuscania-sinking-by-u-boat-in-1918-kills-200-americans.html

And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what do you have for us this week?

Hi Theo!

Embarkation

The Center for Military History has a wonderful website about the WW1 Era. This week, we shared a unique page from that website all about embarkation from the US and what awaited troops once they arrived in Europe. It’s a very thorough page filled with maps, lists of materiel being shipped alongside the troops, and photos of the embarkation camps. Troops were continually being shipped out from the states all through 1918, and you can follow their journey from the harbors of the east coast to the training camps in France by visiting the link in the podcast notes.

link:https://history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/resmat/wwi/pt02/ch12/pt02-ch12-sec01.html

How did Gavrilo Princip feel?

Lastly for the week, we shared a post from the “AskHistorians” subreddit. The question being posed: How did Gavrilo Pincip feel about the war he helped start?

Princip lived to see most of the war, but not the end of it, dying of Tuberculosis in April 1918. As utter carnage and destruction swept through Europe, the middle east and Africa, it is a great question to ask; he couldn’t have meant to put into motion the death of millions when he pulled the trigger, could he?

As the top response on the question says, “In a word, both Princip, and his conspirators, were unapologetic.” The answer pulls from the notes of a psychologist that conducted interviews with Princip while he was incarcerated, and from Paul Jackson’s book "' Union or Death!': Gavrilo Princip, Young Bosnia, and the Role of 'Sacred Time' in the Dynamics of Nationalist Terrorism". It’s a long but very interesting post, investigating the mind and position of the young man who is often pointed to as the spark that lit the fire of war. Read it at the link in the notes.

That’s it this week for the Buzz!

link:https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7sme6f/how_did_gavrilo_princip_feel_about_the_war_he/?st=JCTMMGCK&sh=f75baa10

Thank you all for listening to another episode of WW1 Centennial News.

We want to thank our guests...

• Dr. Edward Lengel, Military historian and author

Special thanks to Eric Marr for his research assistance

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; this podcast is a part of that…. Thank you!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

on  iTunes and google play at ww1 Centennial News, and on Amazon Echo or other Alexa enabled devices. Just say: Alexa: Play W W One Centennial News Podcast.

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[music]

Attaboy - you doughboy!

So long!

• 100 Years ago: About President Woodrow Wilson | @01:45

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #56 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

Today is January 26th, 2018 and our guests for this week include:

• John Milton Cooper Jr. giving deeper insight into President Woodrow Wilson

All that and more --- this week -- on WW1 Centennial News -- which is brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation.

I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

[MUSIC]

Woodrow Wilson - an academic and learned man, president of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910 - a progressive Democrat seeking and winning the governorship of New Jersey - then running for and being elected to his first term as president of the United states in 1912 - two years before war broke out in Europe…

His progressive agenda and accomplishments in his first term are near legendary. His personal life is equally dynamic, losing his first wife to illness in 1914, and barely more than a year later - re-marrying while still in office.

By his second term campaign in 1916 - the war in Europe was in full swing, the Germans had sunk the Lusitania, and Wilson ran for office on a platforms of “America First” - and “He kept us out of the war”.

Within months of being sworn in to a second term, he leads the nation to war and into an unprecedented transformation, politically, legally, economically, socially and  Internationally.

Wilson takes broad powers and wields sledge hammer transformations, nationalizes industries, quashes freedoms, and when congress does not do his bidding, used executive orders to move the nation into the war effort.

Earlier this month 100 years ago, Wilson presents an agenda for a new international world order - instantly thrusting America into a new role as a world leader.

With that as an overview, let’s jump into our wayback machine and go back 100 years to the third week of January 1918 in the war that changed the world!

[MUSIC SOUND EFFECT TRANSITION]

It is mid-january 1918.

With the Wilson administration ruling as much as governing - some seek to depose his power. Once such incident takes place this week.  

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline: January 20, 1918

A headline in the New York Times reads:

War Cabinet Bill Ready For Senate; To give control to council of three…

Backing Chamberlain’s Stand - Senate Military Committee Demands Reorganization of War work…

This is what is happening….

Oregon’s Democratic Senator George Earle Chamberlain, who serves on the Senate Military Affairs Committee,  makes a speech in New York and states:

“the military establishment of America has fallen down because of inefficiency in every bureau and department of the government of the United States... “

And he introduces a bill into the Senate that would retake the powers of the executive and the cabinet back into the legislative branch - specifically the Senate.

The White House and the Wilson Administration fires back...

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline: January 22, 1918

From the headline of the Official Bulletin  - The government’s war gazette published by George Creel at the order of the President.

President Wilson Answers Criticism by Senator Chamberlain Concerning Departmental Management of War - Claims he was not consulted on proposed legislation

And the story includes:

"When the President's attention was called to the speech made by Senator Chamberlain at a luncheon in New York on Saturday, he immediately inquired of Senator Chamberlain whether he had been correctly reported, and upon ascertaining from the Senator that he had been, the President felt it his duty to make the following statement:"

[WILSON] Senator Chamberlain's statement as to the present inaction and ineffectiveness of the Government is an astonishing and absolutely unjustifiable distortion of the truth.

As a matter of fact, the War Department has performed a task of unparallelled magnitude and difficulty with extraordinary promptness and efficiency.

There have been delays and disappointments and partial miscarriages of plans, all of which have been drawn into the foreground and exaggerated by the investigations which have been in progress since the Congress assembled-investigators --- these drew indispensable officials of the department constantly away from their work and officers from their commands and contributed a great deal to such delay and confusion as had inevitably arisen.

But, by comparison with what has been accomplished, these things, much as they were to be regretted, were Insignificant, and no mistake has been made which has been repeated.

President Wilson closes with:

My association and constant conference with the secretary of War have tought me to regard him as one of the ablest public officials I have ever known. It will soon be learned whether HE or his critics understand the business at hand.

To say, as Senator Chamberlain did, that there is inefficiency in every department and bureau of the Government is to show such ignorance of actual conditions as to make it impossible to attach any importance to his statement. I am bound to infer that the statement sprang out of opposition to the administration's whole policy rather than out of any serious intention to reform its practice.

President Woodrow Wilson is truly one of the most remarkable leaders this nation has had. In order to help us get to know him better we have invited John Milton Cooper Jr, an American historian, author, educator, and Former Senior Scholar at the Wilson Center to speak with us today.

Welcome, John!

[greetings]

[Q1: John, Woodrow Wilson is considered one of the greatest American President ever - Was he? And why? ]

[Q2: setup

John.. Wilson seems like a bundles of contrasting ideas - He campaigns to keep America out of war - but then leads a declaration of war and fields on of the most intense war build ups and efforts in our history.

He wants America to fight for freedom and liberty as he nationalized industries, gags dissent and attacks freedom of speech.

=============

Q: How do all these contrasting ideas reconcile?

==============]

[Q3: This is a man who had a huge effect on the nation and indeed on the world - what would you say his most remarkable achievement was as a President?]

[Q4: As we hear the ongoing story of WWI on this podcast, what else should be understand about Wilson to help us keep it all --- and him in context?]

[goodbyes]

John Milton Cooper Jr is an American historian, author, and educator. Links to his biography of President Wilson and to the Wilson Center are in the podcast notes.

Link: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/john-milton-cooper

https://www.amazon.com/Woodrow-Wilson-John-Milton-Cooper/dp/0307277909

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F0CEED7133FE433A25752C2A9679C946996D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F02E2D6133FE433A25751C2A9679C946996D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B02E3DF103FE433A25757C2A9679C946996D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=950CEEDF103FE433A25756C2A9679C946996D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9505E1D8143AEF33A25754C2A9679C946996D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E02E1D8143AEF33A25754C2A9679C946996D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A07E4D7143AEF33A25754C2A9679C946996D6CF

This week in War in the sky - we want to introduce you to General Billy Mitchell… a pretty extraordinary man.

As World War 1 broke out, Billy Mitchell recognized the importance of aviation.  So in 1916, he learned to fly on his own nickel.  Heading to Europe, On January 20, 1918, Mitchell, now a Colonel - was promoted to Chief of the Air Service of the First Army. Colonel Mitchell found himself in command of more than 1,500 British, French and American aircraft - the largest "air force" ever assembled.  

We will learn more about this leader and flyer over the coming months - a man who became the chief of air services this month 100 years ago in the war in the sky.

See the podcast notes to learn more.

Link: http://www.mitchellgallery.org/gen-mitchell/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Mitchell

https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/the-billy-mitchell-court-martial-136828592/

https://www.army.mil/article/33680/william_billy_mitchell_the_father_of_the_united_states_air_force

Welcome to the second installment of our new series:

America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI --- with Military Historian, author and storyteller, Dr. Edward Lengel.

Hi Ed

[Exchange greeting]

Ed - Your story this weeks rolls us back to September 1917 when America celebrated National Draft Day - the draft not being the most popular new law of the land - In New York there was a baseball game. We look forward to hearing the story!

[ED LENGEL]

Ed.. What are you going to tell us about next week?

[ED LENGEL]

Ed Lengel is an American military historian, author, and our new segment host for America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI.

There are links in the podcast notes to Ed’s post about baseball? and his website as an author.

Links:http://www.edwardlengel.com/doughboys-baseball-classic-game-polo-grounds-1917/

https://www.facebook.com/EdwardLengelAuthor/

http://www.edwardlengel.com/about/

[SOUND EFFECT]

Mike: Your story this week is about how the war is being considered in Europe as we roll into 1918. What is the headline?

[MIKE POST]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/01/21/americans-now-in-german-gun-sites/

[SOUND EFFECT]

For videos on WWI go see our friends at  “The Great War Channel” on Youtube.

This week’s new episodes include

Assassination attempt on Lenin

Central powers occupation of Italy

British Pistols of WW1

And finally - Road Trips 2018

Next month, we have invited the host of The Great Wall Channel, Indy Neidell to join us and talk about how hosting this youtube channel for the past 4+ years has affected him…

Meanwhile - Follow the link in the podcast notes or search for “the great war” on youtube.

Link:

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

It is time to fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[SOUND EFFECT]

this section is not about history, but rather - it explores what is happening NOW to commemorate the centennial of the War that changed the world!

In commission news:

As we mentioned last week, the US mint has released a special 2018 WWI commemorative silver dollar - but also -- they created WWI service medallions commemorating the five military branches that fought in WWI - The Army, the Navy, The Marine Corps, the brand new Air Corps - later to become the Airforce, and the Coast Guard.

If you are listening to this podcast, clearly you already have some interest or connection to the centennial of WWI - this is the remembrance of this centennial you will want to keep and pass on to the next generation.

But you have to do it NOW.

link:www.ww1cc.org/Coin

https://catalog.usmint.gov/coins/commemoratives/

It’s time for our new 2018 segment: A century in the making - America’s WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

As our regular listeners know, we are building a national WWI Memorial at Pershing Park in the nation’s capitol. It’s a big project. It’s complicated. It’s hard. It’s been a long time coming.

So in this segment we are bringing you along on an insider’s journey that explores this grand undertaking, the adventure, and the people behind it.

Joe Weishaar - is our brilliant young visionary, who won the international design competition for this memorial -- He is also an Eagle Scout… a designation that just predates WWI.

In fact, it turns out that the first Eagle Scout award was given to scout Arthur Rose Eldred in 1912. Now - Eldred actually goes on to join the Navy during WW1. He serves on convoys in the Atlantic and on a submarine chaser in the Mediterranean, surviving both a sinking ship and the Spanish Flu.

Last week, Joe spoke at the Boy Scout’s annual midwest regional fundraiser. As an Eagle Scout himself, Joe helps us continue to strengthen the connection between the Boy Scouts and WW1.

Welcome, Joe!

[greetings]

[Joe: when you spoke at the event last week - was it scouts, scout leadership or others? Who was the audience?]

[How were you and your story received?

[Joe: Do you think that your scouting experience influenced you or prepared you in entering and ultimately prevailing and winning the international design competition for the National WWI Memorial?]

[Do you think the scouts are aware of the connections of scouting and WWI?]

Something interesting came up this week in our research about WWI 100 years ago… Let me read you an excerpt from the January 21st, 1918 issue of the New York Times…

The headline reads:

WAR TASK FOR BOY SCOUTS

Will Be Dispatch Bearers for Public Information Committee

And the story reads:

President Wilson has sent the following letter to Colin H. Livingstone, President of the Scout’s National Council:

My Dear Mr. Livingstone:

I desire to entrust the Boy Scouts of America with a new and important commission - to make them the government dispatch bearers in carrying to the homes of their community the pamphlets on the war prepared by the committee for Public Information. The excellent services performed by the Boy Scouts in the past encourages me to believe that this new task will be cheerfully and faithfully discharged.

Your sincerely,

President Woodrow Wilson

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9801E7D6133FE433A25752C2A9679C946996D6CF

[Joe - any thoughts or comments on the story?]

[goodbyes]

Joe Weishaar is the winning designer of the international design competition for National WW1 Memorial in DC - The design lead for the project …. and an Eagle Scout!

We are going to continue to bring you an insider’s view with stories about the epic undertaking to create America’s WWI memorial in our nation’s capital. Learn more at ww1cc.org/memorial

Link: www.ww1cc.org/memorial

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/3968-designer-of-national-wwi-memorial-visits-joplin-for-scouting-event.html

[SOUND EFFECT]

And now for our feature “Speaking World War 1” - Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  ---

Soldiers in war treasure the personal effects they carry with them into battle-- photographs of loved ones, letters from home, trench art they spent hours creating, cigarettes, and souvenirs found on the battlefield. It’s their precious connection to the OTHER reality….

In the heat of battle, it’s easy to misplace or lose your trinkets, especially when a soldier is wounded and gets moved from the front by stretcher bearers and other men of the medical services.  

For the British in WWI, with typical english wrye humor - they renamed their Royal Army Medical Corps - the RAMC to -  Rob All My Comrades!

They gave a similar treatment to their mail services - the Royal Engineers Postal Services - the REPS - they got recast as postal pilferers with REPS - Rob Every Poor Soldier.

Trench humor...

Rob All My Comrades - and Rob Every Poor Soldier - recast acronyms from the trenches of WWI and this week’s speaking WWI phrases -

See the podcast notes to learn more!

link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nicknames_of_British_Army_regiments

[SOUND EFFECT]

For our Spotlight in The Media section we have an exciting story this week. England’s Imperial War Museum has teamed up with famed Director Peter Jackson and asked him how he would tell the story of WWI. The director of the Lord of The Rings trilogy took on the challenge and announced the new project this week.

Here is Peter Jackson speaking about telling the WWI story in a new and innovative way.

[Peter Jackson interview]

Follow the link in the podcast notes to see some sample footage of what Peter Jackson was talking about and to learn more about the project.

Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePxpbDmykD4

https://www.facebook.com/iwm.london/videos/10155880426025479/

http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/peter-jackson-world-war-one-film-ww1-1202670953/

[SOUND EFFECT]

Moving on to our 100 Cities / 100 Memorials segment

about the $200,000 matching grant challenge

to rescue and focus on our local WWI memorials.

This week we are profiling the Living Memorial to WW1 in Nitro, West Virginia  -- This project is in the 2nd round of grant application now being reviewed.

With us tell us about their city and their WWI project is Rich Hively, president of the Nitro Historic Commission and Dave Casebolt, Mayor of the City of Nitro

Welcome gentlemen!

[greetings]

[Mayor Casebolt, why do you call the city of Nitro a “Living Memorial to WW1” and where does the name Nitro come from?]

[Rich, what are you proposing for the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials program?]

[It sounds like a fascinating place - If I come to the city of Nitro - what will my experience be? ]

[Thank you so much for being with us today!]

[goodbyes]

Rich Hively is president of Nitro Historic Commission and Dave Casebolt is Mayor of the city of Nitro, West Virginia. Learn more about the 100 Cities/100 Memorials project, and the Living WW1 Memorial in Nitro, by visiting the link at the podcast notes.

Link: www.ww1cc.org/100memorials

https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/nitro-to-build-world-war-i-memorial-park/article_5123ba42-d88e-55a7-aeb6-76ad82b248a1.html

http://historyofnitro.com/

http://wchsnetwork.com/city-of-nitro-installs-wwi-doughboy-statue-at-new-living-memorial-park/

Link: www.ww1cc.org/100cities

This week we starting another new segment for 2018, WW1 War Tech.

We so frequently come across technology from the war that is utterly fascinating, and we look forward to sharing some of these technological curiosities with you -- not just weapons but also medical, communications and other tech that sprang up at that time.

But today - it’s all about a “bigger than an elephant gun” shoulder fired german behemoth designed to … shoot tanks!

With us is David L. O’Neal, creator of the “WWI Preservation Collection”, who very recently finished restoring this 1918 Tankgewehr, or Tank Gun!

Welcome, David!

[greetings]

[To start, Before we get to this mean Mauser - how did you get into restoring WW1 era machines?]

[Tell us about the 1918 Mauser -- how did you come across the one that you restored, and what makes this a unique and special tech of the era?]

[On your website, you can see many images of the gun at every stage of repair and rebuild -- tell us about the process? Did you use any high tech to restore the WWI tech?]

[Audience appeal to the restoration]

[What happens to the Mauser now?]

[Last quick question - What is your next project? ]

[goodbyes]

David L. O’Neal is the creator of the WWI Preservation Collection. Learn more about the Collection, and view images from the Tankgewehr restoration, by following the link in the podcast notes.

Link: http://www.ww1history.com/parking-lot.html

And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what do you have for us this week?

Hi Theo!

Atlas Obscura

Both of our stories this week take us down into the trenches. First, we’ll head over to Atlas Obscura to an article about a rare example of a well preserved World War One trench.  The trench is part of the British lines in Sanctuary Wood, also known as Hill 62. The Belgian Farmer who once owned the land returned to it after the war and chose to leave the trenches as he found them. Sanctuary Wood now operates as a memorial and museum. When you visit you can climb down into the ruins of the original trenches, and the museum includes many items the farmer found and collected over the years on the property: rifles encrusted with mud, German steel helmets riddled with bullet holes, and a collection of period stereoscope photographs of the battlefield. See images of the trenches, dugouts and shell holes by visiting the link in the podcast notes.

link:https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sanctuary-wood-museum

School Maneuvers

Lastly for the week, we’ll head to Kent, Ohio, where school children recently got a very hands-on lesson about WW1. Armed with homemade cardboard pistols, rifles and machine guns, (and a few snowballs here and there), ninth-grade students of Theodore Roosevelt High School waged a mock battle complete with generals barking orders and medics running over to attend to the “wounded”, dragging them away from the battle on sleds over the snow.

This exercise was a first for the school, involving 50 advanced world history students divided into French and German forces. Each student received a card with their role and tasks to execute during the simulation--and after. Generals who designed battle plans and fortifications would have to write condolence letters for lost troops. Soldiers would pen journals and medics would record their cases and actions, while journalists would assemble a newspaper account of the action and interviews. After the battle, the students enjoyed hot chocolate and genuine Army MREs -- meals-ready-to-eat. Read more about this unique project by following the link in the podcast notes. That’s it this week for the Buzz!

link:http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2018/01/cold_lessons_of_trench_warfare.html

Thank you for listening to another episode of WW1 Centennial News.

We also want to thank our guests...

• John Milton Cooper Jr, author, educator and historian

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; this podcast is a part of that…. Thank you!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

on  iTunes and google play ww1 Centennial News, and on Amazon Echo or other Alexa enabled devices. Just say: Alexa: Play W W One Centennial News Podcast.

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[music]

REPS -  Royal Engineers Postal Service --- OR

Really Exceptions Podcast Stories!

I love acronyms!

So long!

• Government shuts down US Industries, shocking nation | @01:40

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - episode #55 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

Today is January 19th, 2018 and we have a great show for you this week including:

• Dr. Ed Lengel, joining us for our new weekly history segment: America Emerges - Military stories from WWI

All that and more --- this week -- on WW1 Centennial News -- which is brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation. I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

[MUSIC]

Our theme this week is one that many of you will be able to relate to in a very direct way….. nasty, freezing, snowy, cold weather --- and its dramatic effect on the war effort.

According the the National Weather Service - when the ball dropped in times square this past new year’s eve - it was the most frigid new years in exactly 100 years - and back in 1918 that frigid weather carried on through January.

Let me set this up…

In our episode #50 that we produced in Mid December, we were joined by Dr. Sean Adams - a historian expert on coal in america. He told us that there was plenty of coal production in the US, but there was a big problem with delivering it where it was needed because of the intense demand by the war effort on the national railroad systems.

This week, 100 years ago it all comes to a head with freezing temperatures, blizzards, and an already overburdened rail system breaking down.

The wartime government, driven by the Energy Administration choose this moment to step in   - and as they were wont to do 100 years ago - they step in with a pretty heavy foot - to the protest of a lot of very unhappy citizens, industries and communities.

There is a lot to unpack here as as we jump into our wayback machine to look at 100 years ago this week - in the war that changed the world!

[SOUND EFFECT TRANSITION]

It’s the second week of January, 1918. Just last month, in December, the Government took over and nationalized the railroads and put them under the direction of Treasury Secretary McAdoo.  It has become quickly obvious that there is a big problem with a lack of available railroad cars in the Midwest and West - the cars are were all bunched up in the east coast ports.  McAdoo’s new US Railroad Administration is working to alleviate this problem, by dedicating a week - starting January 14th to re-organizing the rail cars from where they are to where they are needed… but the plan freezes up thanks to minus 10 to minus 20 degree fahrenheit temperatures across the midwest accompanied by nasty blizzards. Everything grinds to a halt…

[SOUND EFFECT]

DATELINE: Sunday January 13, 1918

And the story reads:

Federal Agents of the fuel administration in NY have received full authority to employ every facility at their command to move coal from the New Jersey Terminal to Manhattan. Officials here tonight were told that there would be 262,000 tons available tomorrow but that only 20,000 tons would be moved because of the unusual weather conditions

The next day - the challenges continue on the eastern seaboard

DATELINE: Monday, January 14, 1918

And the story includes:

Reeve Schley, New York County Fuel Administrator was asked why they feared an acute coal crisis in the next few days - He replied that he does not doubt the reports of 465,000 tons available at New Jersey’s Tidewater, but that only 20-30 thousand tons were being brought into the city a day - which is only 1/2 enough - but ice in the harbor and many tugs damaged by the ice floes are preventing more.

The same day another articles sets the stage for the following week’s bombshell:

[SOUND EFFECT]

Headline: FUEL AND FOOD FOR NEW YORK FIRST; THEN COAL FOR SHIPS, MCADOO ORDERS;

The story reads:

Coal for domestic use and vital public utilities in New York Districts shall receive preference. Foodstuffs shall come second and coal for bunkering of the overseas fleet third.

This drastic action will make necessary the temporary suspension of many of the industries of New York not directly essential to the war program and that some of the other industries might have to operate only part time.

In other words, the government is setting a priority: coal for personal heating, food for the people and coal for the ships waiting to head to europe while it is willing to shut down a major portion of New York's industries, This will put 10s of thousands out of work as employers shut down their factories and facilities.

This is a precursor for Thursday’s big announcement that takes these ideas onto a national scale to a shocked nation!

[SOUND EFFECT]

Dateline: Thursday - January 17, 1918

The story leads with:

The order of the United States Fuel Administrator directs the curtailment In

consumption of fuel by certain businesses starting Tomorrow and For Five Consecutive Days

and Thereafter on Every Monday Beginning January. 28th.

In other words, the government has stepped in, and is telling the majority of US industries - except those they specifically exempt - that US Industry is shutting down for 5 days and then every Monday coming up.

This is a lightning bolt through the heart of the nation.

[SOUND EFFECT]

The front page of the NY Times reads:

SHUT-DOWN OF INDUSTRIES FOR FIVE DAYS;

The next day newspapers from all around the country react…. Here are some examples:

Utica, NY: This is a staggering blow. By stopping the mills and factories here, it throws thousands of people out of employment. It takes thousands of dollars away from working people who have never needed it more than this winter.

Baltimore, Maryland: No such extreme measure as this was ever dreamt of by the American People

Chicago, Illinois: At a word of command from Washington - the greatest industrial sections of the nation stand idle.. A catastrophe to be faced bravely!

St. Louis, Missouri: Fuel Administrator Garfield's drastic order is a confession of incompetency and also an indication of lack of courage and ability to deal with the coal situation

Hartford, Connecticut: The news seems almost incredible - if it had come from Germany's Kaiser William it would be more easily understood!

Wheeling, West Virginia: The administration's coal measure is the most drastic industrial order issued in the history of the nation and is without precedent, but it is justified by the prevailing conditions

Boston, Massachusetts: We had hoped we should not have to resort to such extreme measures, but hesitate to characterize them as unwise or unnecessary!

And from Charleston SC: The Coal Conservation Order issued from Washington will put the patriotism of the American People and especially of American Business to a very stern test.

The next day President Wilson chimes in:

[SOUND EFFECT]

DATELINE: Saturday January 19, 1918

President Wilson issues the following statement

I was, of course, consulted by Mr. Garfield before the fuel order was issued, and fully agreed with him that it is necessary, much as I regret the necessity. This war calls for many sacrifices,

and sacrifices of the sort called for by this order are infinitely less than

sacrifices of life which might otherwise be involved.

It is absolutely necessary to get the ships away, it is absolutely necessary to relieve the congestion at the ports and upon the railways, it is absolutely

necessary to move great quantities of food, and it is absolutely nec-

essary that our people should be warmed in their homes if nowhere

Else.

Halfway measures would not have accomplished the desired

ends.

I have every confidence that the result of action of this sort will justify

it and that the people of the country will loyally and patriotically

respond to necessities of this kind as they have to every other sacrifice

involved in the war.

We are upon a war footing, and I am confident

that the people of the United States are willing to observe the same

sort of discipline that might be involved in the actual conflict itself.

President Woodrow Wilson

Links:

http://today-in-wwi.tumblr.com/post/169680916343/winter-storms-paralyze-us-railroads

Full Text of Gardner’s Testimony before the Senate: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B04E6D7133FE433A2575BC1A9679C946996D6CF

Articles leading up to:

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F01E1D9133FE433A25757C1A9679C946996D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9801E1D9133FE433A25757C1A9679C946996D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F00E1D9133FE433A25757C1A9679C946996D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9807E6DB1031E03ABC4D52DFB7668383609EDE

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A07E6DB1031E03ABC4D52DFB7668383609EDE

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B03E2D8133FE433A25754C1A9679C946996D6CF

Press from around the country condemning the order/aftermath: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F0DE2D8133FE433A25754C1A9679C946996D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D0CE7D7133FE433A2575BC1A9679C946996D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E0CE7D7133FE433A2575BC1A9679C946996D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D05E6D7133FE433A2575BC1A9679C946996D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F00E2D7133FE433A2575AC1A9679C946996D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A0DE2D7133FE433A2575AC1A9679C946996D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=950DE2D7133FE433A2575AC1A9679C946996D6CF

Those are some pretty dramatic events on the homefront driven by the need to get men and equipment to increasingly desperate allies in Europe. America needs to get into the fight - pronto!

To cover that side of the story we are launching a new segment called:

America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI --- with Military Historian, author and storyteller, Dr. Edward Lengel.

Ed - welcome to WW1 Centennial News!

[Exchange greeting]

So Ed this week you are bringing us a story from NY city’s 77th Division.. It’s a great story about fighting - but not the Kaiser - this is about World Champion Boxer Benny Leonard - Who was he and what is the story?

[ED LENGEL]

 [Ed.. What are you going to tell us about next week?]

Ed Lengel is an American military historian, author, and our new segment host for America Emerges: Military Stories from WWI.

There are links in the podcast notes to Ed’s post about Benny Leonard and his website as an author.

Links:http://www.edwardlengel.com/benny-leonard-trained-lost-battalion/

https://www.facebook.com/EdwardLengelAuthor/

http://www.edwardlengel.com/about/

[SOUND EFFECT]

Joining us now is Mike Shuster - former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War Project Blog. Mike is going to expand on President Wilson’s 14 points. You know Mike, we run around living our lives in the world without thinking a lot about how it got to be what it is - But when you read Wilson’s 14 points - it really feels like you are seeing the blueprint and the foundation for the modern world order…. He really helped define a new world - didn’t he!?

MIKE:

Yes he did, Theo  and the headline for my post this week is: A BLUE PRINT FOR POST-WAR PEACE - Wilson’s Fourteen Points Excite the World.

The American President an Instant Hero

[MIKE POST]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/01/14/a-blue-print-for-post-war-peace/

[SOUND EFFECT]

As many of you know, we have this commemoration partner over on YouTube called “The Great War Channel” They launched the channel way back in 2014 around the centennial of the war breaking out in Europe.

We are always promoting them, and the other day someone asked me why - I thought it was a good question - first of all they do a great job! Their stories are clean, short, well researched and really accessible.

Also, being over in Europe, they come at the subject from a really great broad perspective - and have continued to do so for the past 4 years. If you haven’t  checked them out - you should. Their new episodes this week, include:

Of course… Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points. It’s a really worthy subject!!

And - POWs in Japan

And finally - Life on the Isonzo Front

To see their videos about WWI Follow the link in the podcast notes or search for “the great war” on youtube.

Link:

It is time to fast forward into the present with WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[SOUND EFFECT]

this section is not about history, but rather - it explores what is happening NOW to commemorate the centennial of the War that changed the world!

In commission news this week: We have an awesome numismatic opportunity for you!!! WHAAA!? Whadhee say!?

According to Merriam Webster, Numismatics is “ the study or act of collecting of coins, paper money, and medals.” Numismatic coins are essentially rare or valuable coins that have an external value above and beyond the base value of the precious metal they are made out of.

And this week - by an act of congress -  The U.S. Mint released  a new 2018 World War I Centennial Silver Dollar - that honors the 4.7 million American men and women who served in uniform and the 116,516 who lost their lives in the war that changed the world.

But they went even further and created limited edition coin and service medal collectors sets - one each for the Army, the Navy, the Marines, the Air Service and the Coast Guard - These limited edition special service sets are only available for a short time - Its a once-in-a-lifetimer collectors opportunity.

Now personally - I’ve ordered two of the Commemorative coin and Air Service sets showing this beautiful engraving of a SPAD XIII biplane. I bought the second set for my 2 year old grandson --- because around 12 years from now, he is going to wonder about these coins and medals his grand dad bought him back in 2018 - and my son can tell him all about his GREAT GREAT Grandfather who flew bi-planes that looked like that - over in europe during WWI.

These awesome combo sets are only available for 1 month! So grab your piece of history right now by going to ww1cc.org/coin /C O I N or by following the link in the podcast notes.

Best of all - by law, part of the proceeds from the sale of each coin go to the memorial - so with every coin or set you buy, you are helping build America’s WWI Memorial in Washington DC.

Don’t wait - orders yours today at ww1cc.org/coin - and thank you!

link:www.ww1cc.org/Coin

https://catalog.usmint.gov/coins/commemoratives/

Speaking of the memorial - it’s time for our new segment - A century in the making - America’s WWI Memorial in Washington DC.

Last week we introduced you to the segment --- and Sabin Howard told you how he met Richard Taylor from New Zealand’s WETA workshop. This week we learn how he is blending his traditional sculpting techniques with WETA’s high tech 3D tools to create the 9 foot maquette of the memorial sculpture:

[Sabin Howard Interview]

We are going to continue to bring you an insider’s view with stories about the epic undertaking to create America’s WWI memorial in our nation’s capital. Learn more at ww1cc.org/memorial

Link: www.ww1cc.org/memorial

[SOUND EFFECT]

And now for our feature “Speaking World War 1” - Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  ---

This week’s word in an onomatopoeia - Again with the long words!? Yea….

An onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound something makes - like buzz or Meow or boom….

So After a large meal, or maybe at the end of a long, hard week at work -- don’t you just love to crash on the couch and conk out?

Well -  people aren’t the only things that can conk out -- World War One airplane engines did too - and the word describes the sound the engines made when then flooded out, or seized up  - Conk - Conk - Conk -

Having a machine “conk out” midair was unfortunately - not uncommon.

The term first appears around 1911 in British Motorcycling Magazines, describing the problems early motorcyclists faced going uphill; Specific advice given in the magazine is to “give a bit more throttle ...when the engine starts to "conk, conk, conk,”

The phrase made its way into common use during WWI, and soon was applied to exhausted individuals as well.

Conk Out - this week’s speaking WWI phrase -

See the podcast notes to learn more!

link: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/100097/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-conk

[SOUND EFFECT]

Interview with Eagle Scout Benjamin Wood-dard

In our Remembering Veterans section  -- This week we’re joined by an amazing young man…. Benjamin Wood-dard, an Eagle Scout from Boy Scout Troop 62, in Huntington, West Virginia.

Benjamin is here to tell us about his Eagle Scout project, which involved researching and commemorating local WW1 veterans.

Welcome, Benjamin!

[greetings]

[Benjamin - what made you decided to make commemorating local WW1 veterans your Eagle Scout project?]

[What do you think is the most important thing you learned from doing this project?]

[Any advice to other scouts if they want to do a WWI project?]

You're a great guy! Thanks so much for telling us your story!

[goodbyes]

Benjamin Wood-dard is an Eagle Scout from Troop 62, Huntington, West Virginia. Learn more about this project and the men whose service Benjamin has helped commemorate ---  by visiting the links in the podcast notes.

Link:cabellwwi.wordpress.com

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/scout-shares-history-of-memorial-trees/article_1f3d66aa-087c-5a31-98cf-2917b212b4ee.html

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/commemorate/family-ties/stories-of-service/3918-walter-verlin-dial.html

[SOUND EFFECT]

Sunken Gold

This week in our Spotlight on the Media -- we’re joined by library administrator, archivist, historian and author Joseph A. Williams. He is here to tell us about his new book, The Sunken Gold: A Story of World War One Espionage and the Greatest Treasure Salvage in History.

Welcome, Joe!

[Joe-- can you start by giving us a brief set up to the story - told in your book? ]

[How did you come by the story?]

[It really sounds like a great movie-- It’s got sunken treasure, enemies, covert expeditions, obsession-- if it were to be made into a film, who would you cast as Lieutenant Commander Damant?]

Thank you so much for joining us!

[goodbyes]

Joseph Williams, archivist, historian and author of several books including The Sunken Gold. He will be speaking at the International Spy Museum in Washington DC on Tuesday, January 23rd, but if you can’t catch him there we’ve included links to the event and his book in the podcast notes.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Sunken-Gold-Espionage-Greatest-Treasure/dp/1613737580

https://www.spymuseum.org/calendar/detail/the-sunken-gold--a-story-of-world-war-i-espionage/2018-01-23/

[SOUND EFFECT]

Doughboy statue sparks NJ historian's mission to photograph WWI monuments

In articles and posts-- from our rapidly growing website at ww1cc.org -this week, there is an article about a photography project inspired by a WW1 Memorial.

For years, Erik Burro would pass the statue of a WWI U.S. soldier on his commute just a few blocks from his city home and office --- but he paid it little attention to it. In 2016 - the centennial of WWI made him stop and take a closer look at the statue depicting a Doughboy, and the memorial hall behind it.

This led Erik on a mission to find and photograph other World War I monuments, first in South Jersey and then statewide, a quest that has resulted in traveling photography exhibits of major WWI monuments in the state. Read more about Erik Burro and his  "Legacy of Remembrance" at the link in the podcast notes.

Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/3957-doughboy-statue-sparks-historian-s-mission-to-photograph-wwi-monuments.html

Unsung heroes of World War I: how carrier pigeons saved American lives

Also in Articles and posts this week, a story shared from the National Archives “Pieces of History” blog about some of the unsung heroes of World War 1: messenger birds.

The carrier pigeons of both the Allied and Central Powers assisted their respective commanders with an accuracy and clarity unmatched by technology. The National Archives has a vast collection of messages that these feathered fighters delivered for American soldiers. Using these messages and the history of the carrier pigeon in battle, we can look at what hardship these fearless fowls endured and how their actions saved American lives.

One of the most impressive things about the war records of the carrier pigeons was how widely the birds were used. Their service as battlefield messengers is their most known use, and the pigeons found homes in every branch of service. Read more about these essential feathered flying communicators by following the link in the podcast notes.

Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/3959-unsung-heroes-of-world-war-i-the-carrier-pigeons.html

And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what do you have for us this week?

Short Film: The Hun

We picked up on a short-film that was shared by The Great War channel on Facebook. The film comes from Tyler Mendelson, a young filmmaker and Marine Corps veteran. The twelve minute short tells the story of a young American soldier who has just become his company’s new message runner as a German attack is imminent. You can watch the short by following the link in the podcast notes.

link:https://vimeo.com/249587230

Tanks tanks tanks

Last week in our Speaking WW1 segment we looked at the origin of the word “tank”. We happened to find, and share, a cool webpage on Facebook last week that lays out weird and interesting tank designs from Leonardo Da Vinci to the modern day. Among our favorites are the pre-wwi “Tsar”-- a rolling turret with wheels five times the size of a man; the “rolling ball tank”; and the submarine land dreadnought, an aircraft carrier sized ship, covered with cannons, rolling over land. Check them out at the link in the notes.

link:http://www.twilighthistories.com/2012/08/17/top-20-weird-tanks-alternate-history-of-design/

Coin Drop Game

Last for the week-- the US Mint released a special game for kids in coordination with the release of the WW1 Commemorative Silver Dollar. It’s called Peter The Eagles Coin Drop and the premise is simple: you fly a plane, piloted by an Eagle, and maneuver to drop “liberty loans” onto trenches, field hospitals and banks. But watch out-- seagulls appear and can block your drop, or run into your plane! Follow the link in the notes to play-- or to share with your kids.

link:https://www.usmint.gov/learn/kids/games/coin-drop

And that’s it this week for the Buzz!

So Thank you all for listening to another episode of WW1 Centennial News.

We want to thank our guests...

• Ed Lengel, military historian, Author and storyteller

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; this podcast is a part of that…. Thank you!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the Starr foundation for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

on  iTunes and google play ww1 Centennial News, and on Amazon Echo or other Alexa enabled devices. Just say: Alexa: Play W W One Centennial News Podcast.

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[music]

Numismatics, onomatopoeia - You know….  long words just make me want to conk out!  

So long!

WW1 Centennial News Video Podcast on iTunes

Weekly Dispatch Newsletter

• 1917 key events in review |@ 01:30

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News episode #54 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

Today is January 12th, 2018 and our guests this week include:

• Mike Shuster discussing the situation facing Allied forces at the outset of 1918

WW1 Centennial News is brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission and the Pritzker Military Museum and Library. I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

You know---- Our way-back machine not only travels in time,

but also in space

so as we roll back 100 years, but are also going up to 10 thousand feet to get a high level view of what happened in 1917 and a glance into the future for what to expect for this upcoming year ---  in the war the changed the world!

[SOUND EFFECT]

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

Looking back across 1917 from way up here,  we can see:

Wilson being sworn in as the President who promises to keep us out of the war,

but events early in the year,

pressure from the allies,

aggressive and presumptuous actions by Germany, builds up by spring to a declaration of war.

We see a massive rush to mobilize for war.

We see our allies struggling with ever more massive and devastating loss of treasure and men - standing on the brink of devastation -

and we see the eastern allie - Russia - go through two revolutions in one year -

the first - which collapses the Tsarist government -

the second - late in the year -- when Lenin and the bolsheviks take over and effectively drop Russia out of the war,

This is to Germany’s great delight, anticipating the freeing up of massive resources -- with which Germany can deal the allies - a knock-out punch - in an upcoming spring.

Let’s zoom down for a bit closer look at 1917

In late January, early February Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare - reneging on promises made to Wilson after the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania. The US severs diplomatic ties with Germany.

In an attempt to draw the US into the fight, Britain passes along a secret telegram showing an offer by Germany to Mexico promising great rewards including Texas and New Mexico - if Mexico will toss in with Germany - and help take down the US. This does not sit well.

By March with Germany attacking shipping everywhere - the Wilson asks congress to put Navy armaments and sailors aboard US merchant ships. Congress doesn’t go for it - so he issues an executive order to the same effect.

While over in Russia - Revolution #1 -

and Tsar Nicholas II abdicates..

By the end of march, Germany’s blatant aggression against the US gets Wilson’s cabinet to vote unanimously in favor of declaring war.

April is big…

On the 2nd Wilson delivers a war address to congress, and four days later -  on April 6th -- congress votes to go to war.

Over in Europe - French Commander in Chief General Robert Nivelle cranks up a strategic plan that is so flawed and costly in french soldiers lives --- it sets up a French army mutiny ----  NIvelle gets the boot - and the French forces come back online.

In May America cranks up the war machine in a big way!

Wilson appoints George Creel to head the Committee on Public Information.. Creating a historic government propaganda machine.

Congress also passes the selective service act and all men between 18 and 32 have to register. Meanwhile - John J. Pershing is appointed to head of the American Expeditionary Force and goes over to France to assess the situation.

June -

To deal with strong war opposition at home -  congress passes the US Espionage Act - A massive attacks on “freedom of speech” that makes {QUOTE) all false statements intended to interfere with the military forces of the country or to promote the success of its enemies (UNQUOTE)  illegal. In other words - if you speak up against the draft or the war - you are going to prison. And people do.

Same month,

the first US troop arrive in France - but not yet to fight - they are there to prepare the way for our army.

In July Pershing makes a request for an army of a million men - then just a few weeks later --- revises his request upwards to 3 million.

On the fighting front, July, August and september see the first use of Mustard Gas on the battlefield

--- and campaigns in the Belgic regions of Ypres and Passchendaele.

America is busy building and equipping the largest fighting force of its young history. Money is raised, Industries are nationalized, units are mobilized, the population is galvanized by Mr. Creel and his minions.

October marks a disastrous war effort for the italians at the battle of Caporetto

--- and in November -  Revolution #2 - the bolsheviks take over  under Lenin and end the battle on the Eastern Front.

November also sees the expanded use of a new war machine in the battlefield - the Tank!

And at the end of the year - the Brits bring home a little holiday surprise as they finally turn around their struggle with the ottoman empire and defeat the Turks, taking Jerusalem in December.

Wow -

Ok… now we’re gonna  zoom back up and look forward at 1918 from overview.

Germany’s kaiserslacht, is their big offensive - hoping to deal the allies a death blow… it includes five major offensives over the spring and early summer; The allies lose ground - then gain it back with help of Americans who are coming online

Things turn around --- and over the fall, the central powers admit defeat -- one by one so that in November, an armistice is declared…

The fighting stops and now some of WWI’s most fascinating stories emerge - as the aftermath of the war, the negotiations, and America’s war cranked economy try to settle on and into a new world order.

It all actually starts this week. On January 8, 1918 President Woodrow Wilson addresses the U.S. Congress with what would later become known as his "Fourteen Points" the fundamental to America's War Aims.

Inconceivably … up until now, there has been no explicit statement of war aims by any of the nation’s who engaged in this mad destruction.  

At his request, a team, led by Walter Lippmann --- and longtime Wilson advisor Colonel House generate a memorandum called “The War Aims and the Peace Terms it Suggests.” from which Wilson crafts one of his most important and influential speeches of his administration - the Fourteen Points.

The first six enumerate the causes of world war, and urge:

1. The elimination of secret treaties in favor of open agreements

The next seven proceed to rearrange the map of Europe, effectively eradicating the old imperial borders of specific territories and creating independent states. This included:

1. the evacuation of Belgium,

And, finally, his fourteenth point -- the creation of a world organization that would provide a system of collective security for all nations - the foundations of the League of Nations.

An auspicious beginning for 1918, establishing  a world changing doctrine in what TRULY IS

the war that changed the world!

[poignant audio hit]

All year, we will be bringing you with us,. on an incredible journey through these amazing times for our national and our global heritage.

There are stories of suffering and heroism, humanity and technology, defeat and triumph, diplomacy ...and diplomatic failures.

So --- To help us understand all this, starting next week, we will be joined regularly by Dr. Edward Lengel.

Dr. Lengel is an American military historian, Chief Historian of the White House Historical Association and sits on the US WWI Centennial Commission’s historical advisory board.

Ed gives historians a good name! He is smart, well spoken, an author, and a devout storyteller. We look forward to his contributions to WW1 Centennial News THEN…

State of the war front end of 1917: http://today-in-wwi.tumblr.com/post/169156769262/state-of-the-war-end-of-1917

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_G._Lengel

[SOUND EFFECT]

Back with us now is Mike Shuster - former NPR correspondent and curator for the Great War Project Blog. Mike - first of all - welcome back - we missed you over the Holidays -  so… your January post CRISIS FOR THE ALLIES is a great setup piece for 1918 - what are they facing as they roll into the new year?

[Mike Shuster]

Mike Shuster from the Great War Project blog. We also put some links in the Podcast notes to the articles we missed from Mike over the Holidays.

LINK:

http://greatwarproject.org/2018/01/07/american-force-resists-integration/

http://greatwarproject.org/2017/12/21/starvation/

http://greatwarproject.org/2017/12/18/the-grim-reality-facing-the-british/

[SOUND EFFECT]

Over to the Great War Channel on Youtube - They have been producing videos about WW1 since 2014  from a european perspective.

A bunch of new episodes were released over the last weeks, including:

To see their videos about WWI Follow the link in the podcast notes or search for “the great war” on youtube.

Link:

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatWar

It is time to fast forward into the present with  WW1 Centennial News NOW -

[SOUND EFFECT]

this section is not about history, but rather - it explores what is happening now to commemorate the centennial of the War that changed the world!

For 2018 we are introducing a new segment - It’s called: A century in the making - America’s WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

As our regular listeners know, we are building a   national WWI Memorial at Pershing Park in the capitol. It’s a big project. It’s complicated. It’s hard. It’s been a long time coming.

So over the coming weeks, we are going to be bringing you along on an insider’s journey that explores this grand undertaking and adventure.

The centerpiece of the memorial -  located in this urban park -  just two blocks from the White House -  is planned as a massive bronze bas-relief sculpture that tells the story of both the human and the national experience of the war that changed the world.

Joe Weishaar - our brilliant young visionary, who won the international design competition for this memorial -- brought in an incredibly talented artist and sculptor onto his team - Sabin Howard… a traditionally trained - modern classicist sculptor -

Sabin has taken on the challenge of telling the American WWI story at scale, in bronze, and for posterity.

So we are going to kick off this series with an interesting story about how Sabin - the traditionalist - has gotten hooked up with Richard Taylor - a tech visionary who has helped Directors Peter Jackson and James Cameron manifest their visions for Lord of the Rings and Avatar….

Welcome, Sabin!

Sabin, You are a traditionally trained sculptor - a Modern Classicist - you work with the human form - in a very traditional way - but for this project you are combining classic sculpture with some very high tech.

How did that happen, and how are you using cutting edge technology in creating this master work for America?

[SABIN INTERVIEW PART I]

That was the first installment of “A century in the making - America’s WW1 Memorial in Washington DC”

Next week, Sabin will tell us how he is integrating his traditional sketch and clay sculpture process with 3D imaging, programmable milling and additive manufacturing technologies to literally cut years into months for the test / iterate / and retest process in creating a maquette - a 9 foot manifestation of the sculpture.

“A century in the making” has another part to it that is unique for our weekly podcast. You are more involved in this project than you may realize. Congress - who authorized this memorial - made it the LAW that the National WWI memorial has to be built with individual and corporate funding - no government funding allowed! 

Only you can build this memorial -- So I’m going to be asking you to go to WW1CC.org/memorial --- to help honor the memory of those who shaped the world we enjoy today -- with their honest and genuine commitment to our American ideals --- and their personal sacrifice of effort and blood - Now Wer’e not asking you to jump into a bunker with mud and lice ---- all we are asking you to do is to go to wwicc.org/memorial or just pick up your cell phone - heck- it’s probably in you hand right now! Go to your texting app and text the letters ww1 to the number 91999. You can give any amount - Give once or “subscribe to the project” with a monthly gift ===  because you see - this really IS America’s WWI Memorial. Thank you -

link:http://www.sabinhoward.com/WW1cc/

https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-next-step-in-a-soldiers-journey_2397769.html

https://fineartconnoisseur.com/

www.ww1cc.org/memorial

As we enter 2018, many commemorations, both big and small, are coming up to remember and honor the service of America and Americans during WW1. You’ll find many of these in the U.S. National WW1 Centennial Events Register at ww1cc.org/events. There are events all across the US and we are now beginning to add key events from abroad as well.

On any given day you’ll find literally dozens of WWI related events listed - small, local commemorations and large, international ones. The register is America’s official record of commemorations of the centennial of WWI

And you can add your OWN WWI centennial event to the register - with the big red SUBMIT MY EVENT button on the page - even including livestream and social media events.

And finally, we wanted to share with you that the American Battle Monuments Commission has published its upcoming commemorative events in France and Belgium. The link to that calendar is included in the podcast notes.

Link: www.ww1cc.org/events

https://www.abmc.gov/news-events/news/world-war-i-centennial-ceremonies-abmc-sites#.WkzlsdKnFlZ

And now for our feature “Speaking World War 1” - Where we explore the words & phrases that are rooted in the war  ---

One of most iconic new weapon technologies of WWI is the tank. “They rode into WWI on Horses and rode out on Tanks” is a popular phrase that describes the times. This is the grand evolution of the Armored car,  and every side in the conflict tried to create an effective machine. but the British beat everyone to the punch with their Landship, premiering the Mark I in September, 1916.

Until then - this was a new secret weapon!

The machines were called "tanks" in a ruse describing the big metal things as "water carriers," supposedly for use on the Mesopotamian Front. So in conversation --  the engineers referred to them as "water tanks" or, simply, "tanks."

Interestingly, the British Landships Committee even decided to change its name for the same secretive reason, renaming itself the Tank Supply Committee.

By the time the machines rolled over the fields of Cambrai in the winter of 1917, not only did the tanks get stuck - but so did the name… no one went for the name land ships - they were simply known then and are still today --- as Tanks -- this week’s word for Speaking WW1.

See the podcast notes to learn more!

link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_tank

Interview with Dr. Libby O’Connell

In our Education section  -- As we tell every week in our closing - bringing the lessons of WWI into the classroom is one of the Commission’s prime goals - and here to tell us more about the Commission’s education program is Commissioner Dr. Libby O’Connell.

Welcome, Libby!

[greetings]

To start, could you tell us a bit about the education initiative at the commission?  What’s happening now and what are the goals for 2018?

Libby - I understand you are now tying the education program to the Memorial program - how does that work?

Thanks so much for being on the show again!

Dr. Libby O’Connell, World War One Centennial Commissioner, historian and author. Learn more about the education program at ww1cc.org/edu or by following the link in the podcast notes.

link:http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/educate-home.html

[SOUND EFFECT

Moving on to our 100 Cities / 100 Memorials segment

about the $200,000 matching grant challenge

to rescue and focus on our local WWI memorials.

This coming Monday - January 15, 2018 - the submission period for the second and final round of grant application-- closes.

Then we will start the process of selecting the second 50 Awardees to round out the 100 awardees.

Check the podcast notes for a link to the program or go to ww1cc.org/100memorials.

Link: www.ww1cc.org/100memorials

Chaplains in the War

This week in our Remembering Veterans section -- we’re joined by Dr John "Jay" Boyd,  Historian for the United States Army Chaplain Corps. He is here to tell us more about the history of chaplains in the armed forces and their special role during World War One.

Welcome, Dr. Boyd!

Dr. Boyd, just to start us off -- What IS a chaplain and what is their role in the military?

In WW1- we suddenly had an army - and it was made up of a very diverse group of soldiers -  Was any attention given to the increasing diversity of the troops?

There are many stories about the chaplains of World War 1-- does any one in particular stand out to you? Do you have a favorite?

Thank you so much for joining us.

Dr. John Boyd is the Historian for the United States Army Chaplain Corps. Learn more about chaplains in the military by following the links in the podcast notes.

Link: http://usachcs.tradoc.army.mil/

http://bpnews.net/48738/us-entry-to-wwi-remembered-as-chaplaincy-catalyst

http://archnyarchives.org/2015/11/10/military-chaplains-in-world-war-i/

http://mentalfloss.com/article/29695/12-heroic-us-military-chaplains

[SOUND EFFECT]

American Women Physicians

Calling all women doctors - This story is for you!! In articles and posts-- from our rapidly growing website at ww1cc.org -this week, this week there is an article about the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) - Now they have created a remarkable new online exhibit, "American Women Physicians in World War I".

When the United States entered the war in 1917, women physicians numbered less than 5% of all doctors. Many were eager for the chance to serve their country. But when the Army Surgeon General sent out a call for physicians to serve in the Medical Corps, the women who applied were rejected. Women physician leaders across the country protested this decision and petitioned the government, but the War Department didn’t budge.

Despite the stance of the Government, women physicians found ways to participate. Some became civilian contract surgeons in the U.S. Army or served with the French Army. Others volunteered with humanitarian relief organizations. Learn about this amazing story and women physician’s contributions and legacy in WWI by reading the article or by visiting the online exhibit using the links in the podcast notes.

Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/3926-new-online-exhibit-explores-american-women-physicians-in-world-war-i.html

https://www.amwa-doc.org/wwi-exhibition/

WW1 And American Art: Interview

Also in Articles and posts this week, we recently interviewed the staff of the Frist Center in Nashville, Tennessee, to discuss the landmark exhibition World War One and American Art, which was organized by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

The exhibition has been touring the country for the last year and is on view at the Frist through January 21st. The exhibit includes 140 works in all kinds of media, including the monumentally large John Singer Sargeant piece -- Gassed.

Frist Center curators and directorial staff responded to our questions about the show, about the war, and about impact on the local region. Read the interview by following the link in the podcast notes.

Link: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/press-media/wwi-centennial-news/3923-last-chance-to-experience-world-war-i-and-american-art-exhibit-at-the-frist-center-in-nashville.html

And that brings us to the buzz - the centennial of WW1 this week in social media with Katherine Akey - Katherine, what did you pick to tell us about this week?

[Katherine Akey]

Hi Theo!

Follow up to the Halifax Explosion

Happy New Year, everyone! We’re glad to be back. Before we broke for the holidays in December, we talked a fair amount about the disastrous Halifax explosion of 1917. Recently, we shared an article on our Facebook page with some interesting contemporary news about that very incident. The article outlines the discovery by a Canadian arborist of some odd material lodged in a large pine tree near Halifax -- debris from the explosion 100 years ago. Shards of unidentified flying objects got lodged into the city’s canopy when the explosion occurred and to this day, lumber mills as far as the southern United States still don’t dare touch logs from Halifax, knowing some hidden metal artifact could wreck their machinery. Read more about the history hidden in the trees around Halifax by visiting the article at the link in the podcast notes.

link:http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/a-century-after-the-halifax-explosion-grim-reminders-can-still-be-found-in-trees/

The Poilu Censorship Workaround

Lastly this week, I wanted to share a really amazing article from the Centenaire website, the official national centennial organization in France.

The story comes from the Municipal Archives of Marseille, where one archivist discovered a sneaky and smart strategy to get around the heavy censoring of wartime letters. Jean Bouyala, who went on after the war to become a prominent surgeon, was one of several Poilus who found a way to write secret messages on their letters. It sounds bizarre, but by writing first using their saliva, then having the letter’s recipient brush black ink over the page, the saliva stanzas become legible, a darker black writing in the midst of the ink wash on the page. This way, the Poilu were able to send home messages that would otherwise have been blocked by the censor. A link to the article is in the podcast notes along with photographs of the magic-ink letters. Saliva-- the key to clandestine correspondence!

And that’s it this week for the Buzz!

Llink:http://centenaire.org/fr/tresors-darchives/le-secret-des-poilus-pour-dejouer-la-censure

Thank you all for listening to another episode of WW1 Centennial News.

We want to thank our guests...

• Mike Shuster from the Great War Project Blog

And I am Theo Mayer - your host.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1; this podcast is a part of that…. Thank you!

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

We want to thank commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library for their support.

The podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

on  iTunes and google play ww1 Centennial News, and on Amazon Echo or other Alexa enabled devices. Just say: Alexa: Play W W One Centennial News Podcast.

Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

Thank you for joining us. And don’t forget

to share the stories

you are hearing here today

about the war that changed the world!

[music]

We’ll the only thing I can think to say is.. Tanks a lot...

So long!

• 1917 key events in review |@ 01:30

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News episode #54 - It’s about WW1 THEN - what was happening 100 years ago this week  - and it’s about WW1 NOW - news and updates about the centennial and the commemoration.

Today is January 12th, 2018 and our guests this week include:

• Mike Shuster discussing the situation facing Allied forces at the outset of 1918

WW1 Centennial News is brought to you by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission and the Pritzker Military Museum and Library. I’m Theo Mayer - the Chief Technologist for the Commission and your host. Welcome to the show.

[MUSIC]

You know---- Our way-back machine not only travels in time,

but also in space

so as we roll back 100 years, but are also going up to 10 thousand feet to get a high level view of what happened in 1917 and a glance into the future for what to expect for this upcoming year ---  in the war the changed the world!

[SOUND EFFECT]

[MUSIC TRANSITION]

Looking back across 1917 from way up here,  we can see:

Wilson being sworn in as the President who promises to keep us out of the war,

but events early in the year,

• June 28, Episode 26 - From 100 Years ago this week : The Red Cross we know today | @ 01:05

Welcome to World War 1 centennial News - Episode #53.

This week, the podcast turns one year old. We are so pleased and thankful for the hundreds of thousands of downloads we have received from you, our listeners!

For this first anniversary we are going to share PART 2 of our favorite stories and segments from 2017 with you!

Like last week, they are presented them in chronological order. This week we are going from mid-summer through to year’s end.

We are not going to spend time setting up each piece, but we will tell you the date, the episode and the article title each time - to keep it all in context.

WW1 Centennial News is brought to you by the US World War One centennial Commission and the commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library.

Welcome to Part 2 of our 2017 favorite stories in review!

[music]

From 100 Years ago this week : The Red Cross we know today

link:www.ww1cc.org/bulletin

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/weekly-sync-call/2700-ww1-centennial-news-episode-26-6-28-2017.html

July 5, Episode 27

From Events - “Ready to Serve” - a one woman show about WWI Nurses - with Ellouise Schoettler

link:http://ellouiseschoettler.com/

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/weekly-sync-call/2747-ww1-centennial-news-episode-27-7-05-2017.html

July 12, Episode 28

From Commission News - farewell to Former Commissioner James Nutter with Dan Dayton

link:http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/weekly-sync-call/2770-ww1-centennial-news-episode-28-7-12-2017.html

July 19, episode 29

100 Years ago this week - A tale of combat between a merchant ship and a U-boat

link:www.ww1cc.org/bulletin

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/weekly-sync-call/2903-ww1-centennial-news-episode-29-7-19-2017.html

July 26 Episode 30

From the Buzz - The Kodak Vest Pocket Camera with Katherine Akey

link:http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/technique/interviews/vest-pocket-kodak-book-107481

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/weekly-sync-call/2951-ww1-centennial-news-episode-30-7-26-2017.html

August 30, Episode 35

From Speaking WWI - Field Day

link:http://www.theidioms.com/field-day/

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/field_day

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/weekly-sync-call/3057-ww1-centennial-news-episode-35-8-30-2017.html

Sept. 27, Episode 39

from Speaking WWI - OMG.. Really!

link:https://www.wsj.com/article_email/omg-it-started-in-1917-with-a-letter-to-churchill-1504882081-lMyQjAxMTA3OTE4MDAxNzA3Wj/

http://today-in-wwi.tumblr.com/post/165172940448/first-use-of-omg

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/weekly-sync-call/3182-ww1-centennial-news-episode-39-9-27-2017.html

October 4, episode #40

From the Great War Project - Ring of Spies in Palestine with Mike Shuster

link:http://greatwarproject.org/2017/10/01/ring-of-spies-in-palestine/

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/weekly-sync-call/3206-ww1-centennial-news-episode-40-10-04-2017.html

October 18, Episode 42

From 100 Cities / 100 Memorials the genesis and future of the program  with Ken Clarke

Link: www.ww1cc.org/100cities

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/weekly-sync-call/3265-ww1-centennial-news-episode-42-10-18-2017.html

October 25, Episode 43

From Commission News - America’s WWI Memorial in Washington DC - with Edwin Fountain

Link: www.ww1cc.org/memorial

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/weekly-sync-call/3363-ww1-centennial-news-episode-43-10-25-2017.html

November 1  , episode 44

From 100 Years ago this week - Living in NYC? Did a Slacker live in your apartment building 100 years Ago?

link:http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D0CE3DD113AE433A2575AC2A9669D946696D6CF

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/weekly-sync-call/3520-ww1-centennial-news-episode-44-11-01-2017.html

November 8 - Episode 45

From the Great War Project - The Eastern Front Collapses - with Mike Shuster

link:http://greatwarproject.org/2017/11/05/the-bolsheviks-seize-power-in-russia/

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/weekly-sync-call/3616-ww1-centennial-news-episode-45-11-08-2017.html

November 15, Episode 46

From 100 Years ago This week - The Suffragists in WWI

Link: www.ww1cc.org/bulletin

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/weekly-sync-call/3699-ww1-centennial-news-episode-46-11-15-2017.html

November 22, Episode 47

From the Groundbreaking of America’s WWI Memorial in Washington DC - General Mark A, Milley, 39th Chief of Staff of the US Army -

Link: www.ww1cc.org/memorial

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/weekly-sync-call/3719-ww1-centennial-news-episode-47-11-22-2017.html

December 6, Episode 49

From the WWrite Blog - German songwriter/soldier found from rediscovering his music @ | 39:05

link:http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/articles-posts/3783-soon-all-too-soon.html

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/communicate/2015-12-28-18-26-00/weekly-sync-call/3835-ww1-centennial-news-episode-49-12-06-2017.html

Thank you for having joined us for part 2 of our WW1 Centennial News favorites segments of 2017.

This is the beginning of a crucial year - as we move from the decision to enter the war, and the near manic ramp up to do so, to the true sacrifice and loss of our nation’s precious sons - as we enter the fight -  and as that fighting ceases in November.

WW1 Centennial News is brought to you by the US World War 1 Centennial Commission, and our founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library.

Special thanks to the show’s line producer Katherine Akey, researcher Eric Marr, plus our many wonderful guests, contributors and a rolling team of interns. I’m you host, Theo Mayer. Thank you for listening.

The US World War One Centennial Commission was created by Congress to honor, commemorate and educate about WW1.

Our programs are to--

inspire a national conversation and awareness about WW1

We are bringing the lessons of the 100 years ago into today's classrooms;

We are helping to restore WW1 memorials in communities of all sizes across our country;

and of course we are building America’s National WW1 Memorial in Washington DC.

Thank you to the commission’s founding sponsor the Pritzker Military Museum and Library for their support.

This podcast can be found on our website at ww1cc.org/cn  

on  iTunes and google play ww1 Centennial News, and on Amazon Echo or other Alexa enabled devices. Just say: Alexa: Play W W One Centennial News Podcast. Our twitter and instagram handles are both @ww1cc and we are on facebook @ww1centennial.

[MUSIC]

So long!